Tag: 77098

Proposed Developments
09/13/10 11:49pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: What We Could Do by the Freeway

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Retail, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby
4 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:

What’s to dig up from last week’s question:

  • Upper Kirby: Whatever traffic study was being conducted on the Southwest Freeway feeder road nearby, it has nothing to do with the strip-center, bank, and maybe drive-thru development Lovett Commercial is hoping to get going on that patch of grass along the feeder to Lexington St. at Greenbriar, leasing agent Elizabeth Jacob tells Swamplot. Lovett has a sign up, is waiting for phone calls, and has a site plan to show (see below) as “an example of what we could do,” she says. Any involvement with the site by H-E-B (as was claimed by one commenter) would be news to her, she tells us.

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Commercial Real Estate
09/07/10 7:40pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: The Crying of Lot 59

by
Upper Kirby
13 Comments

Got an answer to this reader question? 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.

  • Upper Kirby: “Someone is conducting a traffic study along the Southwest Freeway at Greenbriar,” a reader reports. “Is that someone finally going to build on the vacant block between 59 and Lexington?” Someone? Anyone?

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Openings and Closings
08/03/10 11:44am

Now and Forever Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

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Retail, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby, West University
7 Comments

All that’s left of the Now and Forever Bridal Boutique — looking wistfully at Lakewood Church from across the Southwest Freeway — is this lonely sign by the shop’s old entrance. But don’t fret: Next door, in the same feeder-road strip center, Party City still rages! Now and Forever’s new location: the 3701 Kirby office building a block south of Richmond, not far from Hardcore Pilates.

Photos: Swamplot inbox

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Commercial Real Estate
08/02/10 7:24pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Potholes and Pads

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Demolitions, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Shopping Centers, Upper Kirby, Woodlake Plaza
5 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:

Scuttlebutt on that decrepit parking lot on Richmond, plus what’s ready to pop up on the site of the Hooters on Gessner:

  • Upper Kirby: “How many professionals in kenneth cole loafers or nine west heels want to navigate lake Ponchartrain just to get to our restaurant for a meal?” asks a commenter from Yelapa Playa Mexicana, one of three restaurants sharing the potholed (and occasionally flooded) parking lot between Richmond and Portsmouth west of Greenbriar. But . . . nothing’s doing:

    We would love to force our landlord to get this mess fixed as soon as possible…any advice from anyone? We’ve been on him for the last 10 months or more (since we took the space in mid-September 09).

    Commenter marmer notes a repair job may involve significant drainage work. “Simply patching the holes won’t last long enough to be worth the trouble.” Plus, where are Yelapa, Blue Fish House, and Hobbit Café customers gonna park while the work gets done? Also left unanswered: Is the existing parking lot required to meet any drivability standards?

Next: What comes after Hooters?

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Lancaster Place
08/02/10 11:51am

Is This Your Montrose Supermarket on Stilts? A South Beach Model for the Wilshire Village H-E-B

by
Proposed Developments, Retail
23 Comments

KHOU reporter Tiffany Craig says her news team “did a little digging” and has discovered that one of the design options H-E-B is considering for its new Montrose store across from Fiesta at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy is “similar to” Carlos Zapata’s famous Publix supermarket in South Beach — aka “the Mothership.” That’s good to hear, because as we all know since about 1987 all new buildings built in Houston have been required to look kinda like some more famous structures from somewhere else.

But Zapata’s 12-year-old Publix by the Bay is an actual 50,000-sq.-ft. grocery store, with carts and ramps and everything. The parking is above the store — on 2 levels:

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Commercial Real Estate
07/27/10 5:22pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Too Many Bumps

by
Demolitions, Shopping Centers, Upper Kirby, Woodlake Plaza
27 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.

  • Upper Kirby: “I can assure you that there are some bone crunching potholes underneath the lovely puddles,” writes the reader who sent in these rain-drenched photos of the ancient, multi-layered, and pockmarked parking lot shared by 3 restaurants at 2241 Richmond, just west of Greenbriar. When it rains, the lot gets even worse, claims the reader, who wants to know why it’s so “pitiful”:

    While I can kind of understand Blue Fish and Hobbit [Café] not wanting to spend too much money on improving the parking lot since they are not high dollar places, Yelapa [Playa Mexicana] is trying to position itself as this new chic Mexican/Seafood eatery and thus I would have thought they’d care more about a customer’s initial impression.

    A related question from the same reader: “Are there any City ordinances that require a parking lot used by the public to have a certain amount of drivability?”

Next: What about the Hooters?

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Comments
07/23/10 9:52pm

Comment of the Day: Wilshire Village Park Contributions from the Great Unwashed

by
Lancaster Place, Montrose, Parks, Quicklink
No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILSHIRE VILLAGE PARK CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE GREAT UNWASHED “This seems like a potentially great corporate/community partnership. It’s not chump change, but it can be done. I hope the Montrose land Defense Coalition can get it together and do the fund-raising. I, for one, am willing to forgo my soap and patchouli budget for a month and instead dedicate those funds to this cause.” [RWB, commenting on H-E-B Looking for $2 to $3 Million for a 2-Acre Montrose Park]

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Lancaster Place
07/23/10 10:39am

H-E-B Looking for $2 to $3 Million for a 2-Acre Montrose Park

by
Montrose, Parking, Parks, Proposed Developments, Retail
68 Comments

H-E-B Houston division president Scott McClelland tells the Chronicle‘s Mike Morris what he’s been telling members of the Montrose Land Defense Coalition for several months: That the grocery company is willing to include a 2-acre park adjacent to its planned Montrose store on the site of the former Wilshire Village apartments at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy — but only if community fundraisers can come up with “some offset” of the $2 to $3 million in extra costs required. “I’m not saying it has to be dollar-for-dollar,” McClelland says. “If we get close to raising that kind of money, we’ll find a way to do it. But if we can’t raise any money, it’d be tough for me to justify putting a park in.”

The company plans to have its new store back up to West Alabama and face south. If enough money can be raised, McClelland says the store can be raised — on stilts, so parking can fit underneath. That would leave room for a 2-acre park on the site’s south end. The “H-E-B on stilts” plan would also include space for a farmers market. Without the extra funds, that park area would be used for parking instead — though mature trees on the south portion of the property would still remain.

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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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Buildings for Sale
06/30/10 4:13pm

West Alabama Antique Compound Available More Than Fully Furnished

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Commercial Real Estate, Dearborn Place, Furniture
1 Comment

This string of antique-store buildings on West Alabama just east of Shepherd has been on the market since last fall. Swamplot noted the Brian Stringer Antiques 40-percent-off going-out-of-business sale in December, but the 25-percent-off sale on the buildings began only last month, after a second price reduction. The bungalow, showroom, and 2-story warehouse on the 14,004-sq.-ft. lot are now priced at $1,099,000. The listing notes the store and its inventory are also for sale “for additional consideration.”

“Everyone in Houston knows the shopping ritual here,” explained ritual antique shopper Joni Webb last year. “You go [through] the main showroom first, work your way to the back storeroom, stop at the side showroom, then exit through the metal garage door to go outside where you then enter the little French house through its side door.”

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Parking
06/24/10 8:34am

Carrabba’s Kirby Recipe: 3 New Restaurants and a Parking Garage

by
Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail, Upper Kirby
23 Comments

Note: Story updated below.

The owners of the original Carrabba’s Italian Grill on Kirby between West Main and Branard plan to demolish the restaurant, rebuild it, and construct 2 more restaurants on adjacent blocks. First step: building a new 275-car parking garage one block to the north, at the northwest corner of Branard and Argonne. Next, a new and larger Carrabba’s (marked [A] in the site plan above) would go up directly south of the existing building, which would remain open during construction. Once the new digs are complete, they’ll tear down the existing restaurant and put in a parking lot and porte-cochere in its place. Two more restaurants — one possibly named Grace’s, and one with office space upstairs — are planned for blocks north of Branard, one facing Kirby and the other at Argonne.

The Kirby Carrabba’s is one of 2 still owned by the family of co-founder Johnny Carrabba. All other Carrabba’s Italian Grills — more than 200 in 27 states — are owned by OSI Restaurant Partners, the same company that runs Outback Steakhouse and Fleming’s.

The new Kirby restaurant complex may be the first in the city to take advantage of the “transit corridor” incentives passed by city council last year. In return for building a 15-ft.-wide pedestrian area and street-front entrance along Kirby, designers get to push 2 of the buildings close to the street, well into the normal 25-ft. setback. The planning commission approved the site plan earlier this month — along with several related parking variances — even though the transit corridor itself (the University Line on Richmond) hasn’t even started construction yet.

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Commercial Real Estate
06/18/10 8:54am

Bye Bye, Mai Thai? Feeding Another Kirby High-Rise Rumor

by
Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Upper Kirby
17 Comments

A longtime fan of Upper Kirby restaurant Mai Thai sadly informs us that the 21-year-old pink-trimmed restaurant at the northern end of the 59-Kirby restaurant ghetto will close on June 26th. The landlord has reportedly told owner Mary Le that the lease will not be renewed. Did that little “For Sale” sign on the corner of the building — advertising a 10,000-sq.-ft. lot at the corner of Kirby and Algerian Way — work its magic? Our source tells us Mai Thai will not be reopening, and that everything inside the restaurant is for sale. The inevitable development rumor: a new “high rise complex” is planned for the property, with construction beginning in August.

Is this all true . . . or just a clever plot to drum up a rush of Pad Thai orders? Writes our source: “The food is delicious. I’d urge you, if you’re a fan or if you’re never been before… make a point to go sometime in the next week.”

Photo of Mai Thai Restaurant, 3819 Kirby Dr.: Swamplot inbox

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Homes for Sale
05/28/10 4:17pm

Audley International Style: FrogPad’s Machine For Living

by
Renovations, Upper Kirby
14 Comments

Perched amid the Upper Kirby office-building ghetto just west of Eastside and south of West Alabama, the building at 3231 Audley dates from 1961, during developer Gerald Hines’s reign over Richmond Ave. Now that it’s had some midlife body work, the property is for sale again.

The Weather Research Center, a research and education nonprofit located next door at 3221 Audley, bought the building in the mid-nineties, but never occupied the space. (The organization moved to the Museum District in 2006 and opened its doors as The Weather Museum.)

Linda Marroquin, CEO of tech company FrogPad, snatched the shell of the office building on stilts in December 2006 and transformed it. She’d lived in another converted building across the street for 9 years, and says she had her eyes on the property the whole time. Besides running FrogPad, a business that sells one-handed keyboards, Marroquin is a serial renovator. She worked with local designer and contractor Michael X. Flynn to convert the building to a residence; it’s her fourth renovation in Houston. Over the next 2 years Marroquin and Flynn gutted the space and built out another 2,500 sq. ft. on top. The result is the high-tech executive’s interpretation of the Villa Savoye — as it might have landed on a 5,000-sq.-ft. Houston lot just a couple blocks from the Jack In The Box on Richmond.

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Ferndale
05/12/10 1:59pm

Hangin’ with the Large and Lonely Homes of Bammel Lane Park

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Homes for Sale, New Construction: Residential, Price Reductions, Upper Kirby
14 Comments

A couple of readers have expressed — how best to put this? — concern for the financial well-being of the developers behind the Bammel Park Homes featured on Swamplot early last year. Writes one recent visitor to the complex:

The development was originally intended to have 12 homes. There are only three complete and it doesn’t look as if any more will be built. . . . The front gate is rusted, the driveways haven’t been paved, the fountain is clogged, there isn’t any landscaping and loose wires are hanging here and there.

Didn’t Black Diamond Development claim the park-like setting would in fact be “enchanted”? Meanwhile, the asking prices for the hefty properties at 3204, 3244, and 3248 Bammel Ln. have been cut in three hacks each from $2.239 million to $1.798 million. Just look at all the bricks that includes:

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Lancaster Place
04/30/10 3:20pm

Montrose H-E-B Gets Its Variance; A “Reasonable” Number of Wilshire Village Trees Will Be Preserved

by
Proposed Developments, Trees
19 Comments

With several neighbors and a city council member speaking in support and no one protesting, Houston’s planning commission granted a variance yesterday to the new owners of the former site of the Wilshire Village apartments at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy. The variance will allow Sul Ross and Branard streets, which currently dead end into the 7.68-acre vacant tract, to remain dead ends as the property is redeveloped into a new Montrose H-E-B market.

In return, the planning department will get some vaguely defined involvement in planning the site. “As a condition of granting the variance,” explained the planning department’s Brian Crimmins,

the applicant will be required to coordinate with the planning department during the site plan stage to establish a reasonable landscape buffer between the subject site and and adjacent properties as well as reasonable preservation of the mature tree canopy on the site. The applicant has agreed to these conditions.

Neighbors had complained about earlier plans submitted for the property — which did not require city approval because they followed the city’s development ordinance. Those plans connected Sul Ross and Branard to form a loop, like this:

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