The crane at 2727 Kirby is coming down today and tomorrow, reports a reader who’s been watching the construction.
A larger version of this up-to-date photo showing the incredible shrinking construction crane — and a rendering of the completed condo tower — are waiting for you after the jump.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmGp3rfOXNc 400 330]
After a summer-long silence, SexyATTACK is back, with this unbridled celebration of . . . uh, retail!
The IKEA on I-10 is a big store. Someone’s got to dance in it.
Sexy does salad bar, after the jump!
A reader notes that a sign offering “13,000 sq feet of restaurant/retail for lease” is up at the Alabama Bookstop, and asks if plans for the location have been announced. Bookstop owner Barnes & Noble is building a new store on West Gray, on the former site of the River Oaks Shopping Center’s north curve.
That 13,000 sq. ft. figure makes it clear the sign isn’t referring to a different space in the Alabama Theater Shopping Center. According to leasing info on the Weingarten website, that’s the approximate size of the Bookstop’s space.
Photo of Bookstop at Alabama Theater Shopping Center: Debra Jane Seltzer
No word yet about the diner next door, but the West U. Examiner reports that the Avalon Drug Store on Westheimer just east of Kirby will be calling it quits in 2 weeks:
Pharmacist Bill Morris, who has run the independent pharmacy for 36 years, said “a confluence of events†prompted his recent decision.
Morris is 67 years old — for one thing — and insurance “has made it harder†on independent pharmacy operations, which have low profit margins.
He also pointed to leasing rates that are rising due to the plethora of new construction in the Upper Kirby area.
Update: As owner Coy Ramsey notes in the comments, Avalon Diner is not going anywhere. More from the River Oaks Examiner and Houstonist.
Photo: Flickr user Houstonian [license]
THOSE AREN’T LIVE OAKS ON KIRBY ANYMORE “Overnight, crews cut down dozens of trees lining Kirby between Richmond and Westheimer as part of a controversial construction project.” With chainsaws and backhoes in the middle of the night — what excitement! [11 News, previously in Swamplot]
At last — maybe now we’ll actually be able to see the store signs on Kirby between Richmond and Westheimer:
TIRZ President Buddy Bailey said the new high-rise oaks, which can reach a height of 40 feet, “grow straight up and straight down,†which will reduce problems with root systems and underground infrastructure.
The plan calls for the exiting 135 trees to be replaced with 148 trees.
“We will match the old trees caliper for caliper,†he said.
The Wabi Sabi House in Boulevard Oaks has sold, reports developer Carol Barden. And she says the buyer found his new home . . . by reading Swamplot.
The buyer apparently came across the Wabi Sabi while reading stories on this site about another Barden property: yes, that lonely Modern townhome on Stanford St. in Montrose designed by Francois de Menil that Barden was still trying to unload. Swamplot’s last report noticed that once-a-million dollar townhouse being offered for $749,000. Barden tells us that the Menil townhouse is now under contract. She won’t reveal any pricing details, but says that she “didn’t discount the price again.”
Photo of Wabi Sabi House: Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen
The Dwell blog and a Dubai-based “ezine” named De51gn both feature long-awaited interior photos of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen‘s Wabi Sabi House on Bartlett St. near Greenbriar. Doesn’t look like the house has been staged too heavily, but . . . isn’t that the point of “imperfect beauty”?
Have a look around:
The Wabi Sabi House is Carol Isaak Barden’s latest High Concept development. Tucked into a normal-sized lot between Greenbriar and Kirby just south of 59, the 3,700-sq.-ft. cedar-faced home is the first Texas residence designed by Seattle architects Olson Sundberg Kundig and Allen. It’s scheduled to be complete this month.
What’s the big idea? Explains Barden,
Generally, wabi means humble, and sabi refers to the imperfection that comes with time. Freely translated, it means something like “lived in.”
Alternate translation: Move over, feng shui. Wabi-sabi is the ancient Japanese idea behind the latest category of home-design looks and books.
After the jump: A view from the Wabi Sabi House’s huge roof deck. Plus: Barden’s checkered and gilded past!
More imports for West Ave! A tidbit from the Chronicle:
Rome, a resort-style day spa and salon, plans to open at West Ave. in the summer of 2009. Conceived by Las Vegas-based spa operators, Resources & Development, the spa will encompass more than 10,000 square feet in the mixed-use development at Kirby and Westheimer.
West Ave rendering: Urban Partners
Swamplot reader Buildergeek sends pictures from the demolition of the former Martha Turner Properties building at the corner of Westheimer and Hazard.
Whatever’s happening to the site, it sure doesn’t sound like what Nancy Sarnoff reported a year and a half ago in the Chronicle:
The old headquarters of Martha Turner Properties near River Oaks has been sold for the third time in as many years to a florist who plans to gut the property, add a floral showroom and lease out space to other businesses.
The owners of Plants ’n’ Petals, a 25-year-old flower shop located near Highland Village, purchased the former real estate office at 1902 Westheimer for an undisclosed amount. . . .
The renovations will include installing windows on the Westheimer-facing facade, gutting the interior and adding a mezzanine for offices.
The building will have about 12,000 square feet of space when it’s finished by the end of 2008.
After the jump: Clearly, the building was too close to the street!
Houston restaurant reporter Cleverley Stone has names and details of four new restaurants and a bar slated to open at West Ave, the multistory mixed-use development now under construction on the corner of Westheimer and Kirby. All are culinary imports from Dallas, San Antonio, or California, though one has already moved nearby:
With the ambience of a European café, indoor and alfresco options will be available with dining areas separated by a wall of French doors. The décor will incorporate custom built wine racks and handpainted fresco wine labels on canvas. The menu will offer a contemporary collection of French-Continental, Asian Fusion and Wine Country
Though a number of the 390 luxury apartments upstairs are scheduled to become available this August, the restaurants and stores below them in West Ave’s first phase won’t open until August 2009.
After the jump, two more newish images of West Ave from the architect’s website.
It’s gonna get kinda lonely soon at the Karpas Properties offices on W. Alabama. Owner Hedley Karpas has sold his company to Martha Turner Properties, leaving a few agents and employees to scramble for new homes.
Karpas told his 60 employees — including more than 40 agents — about the sale Tuesday morning. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Karpas told the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff that he’ll become a broker associate at Martha Turner Properties. But he won’t be bringing many people with him:
Turner said she will be interviewing about a dozen Karpas agents and retain a “select few.”
Ouch. According to Sarnoff, Karpas’s office will close at the end of this month, though agents will continue to work with existing clients.
Photo still from virtual tour of Karpas Properties office: TK Images
How poetic is it that the lone holdout in a 2-acre plot on West Alabama that Gables Residential wants to tear down so it can build up to 150 more apartments — and maybe some street-level shops — is called . . . Distinctive Details?
Little Woodrow’s will be shutting down March 2nd, but Distinctive Details, which rents linens and party supplies, wants the Atlanta REIT to triple its $150K lease buyout offer.
A short item in the Houston Business Journal is encouraging rumors of a new highrise on Shepherd, one block south of the Alabama Theater Bookstop.
That’s the current location of jewelry store Fly High Little Bunny, along with the Jamail Real Estate office shown in this photo sent in by a Swamplot reader. The property includes two houses in back.
But the new development could stretch all the way to W. Alabama. A poster on HAIF claims the same buyer is also purchasing the shopping center on the north side of the block, which contains Ruchi’s Taqueria and Roeders Pub, and is planning highrise apartments and a parking garage, with retail space on the ground floor.
