08/31/17 11:15am

How’s this image for establishing flood cred? The photo above — of the submerged Whataburger at 4545 Kingwood Dr. in Kingwood — accompanied the fast-food chain’s announcement yesterday of plans to spend a million bucks helping its own employees recover from Hurricane Harvey and donate half a million to local food banks and $150K to the Red Cross. If the water-waisted burger joint located near the intersection of the appropriately named W. Lake Houston Pkwy. otherwise looks kinda shiny and new in the pic (you can see more of its flooding experience here, here, and here), it’s because it is. Whataburger Unit 1125 at this location opened for the first time on July 31.

Photo: Whataburger

In and Out
04/18/07 9:18am

Regent Square Brownstones with Park

Residents of the new Regent Square Brownstones will “enjoy the sophistication of ‘in town living’” . . . in Kingwood.

Regent Square Brownstones in Kingwood TwilightThis is beginning to sound like a theme now, huh? Perhaps tired of bringing suburban-style homes and strip centers to the center parts of Houston, enterprising builders are now setting about to even the score, placing downtownish-looking buildings in park-like festival-village settings out in the burbs. As long as they don’t actually drag Central City teardowns to the Woodlands, it should be safe.

But why the urban flight? Homebuilder Robert Davis, whose firm is building Regent Square in Kings Harbor Village on prime Kingwood waterfront, spills the beans to the Chronicle:

Q: You are developing a lot of brownstone urban communities in the suburbs. Why not in Houston?

A: They can assemble and synergize the community with brownstones, whereas in Houston it’s very difficult to build townhome projects and say OK, here is your walk to the grocery store, because we have 5-foot sidewalks in Houston.

Suburb communities are building large promenades to connect things.

You would think that Houstonians have a more urban mind-set, but the people in the suburbs are actually going to get it.

In Houston, you cannot buy enough property to assemble that urban district.

We’re probably just not tearing down enough big, contiguous buildings in town.

Bonus: Davis reveals the secret sex code of successful homebuilders:

You’ve got to really design the home for the woman. Men are becoming more and more involved into the aesthetics, but you still need to make sure the woman is satisfied.

You’ve got to have the right kitchen, the right master bathroom. Natural light is extremely important. Men like the dark wood, caves. And women like the light and airy and bright, and if you miss that, you will miss big time.

Read more in the upcoming bestseller, Men are from the Enclosed Toilet Room, Women are from Lanai.