Tag: Hyde Park

Condos, Hyde Park, Montrose

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The development team that had hoped to put a 7-story, 24-unit condo building dubbed Mandell Montrose on the corner of Commonwealth and Fairview streets appears to have given up entirely on that effort now: 3 days ago, the property — which includes the house-turned-leasing-office pictured above — was listed for sale at a price of $2.6 million. It’s the second condo project that failed to get off this particular ground in the past 2 years. The seller Midtown Uptown Development Partners picked up on the site after a different developer’s plans to put an 8-story building called Flats on Fairview there fell through.

The good news is that this porch view from the adjacent house remains totally unobstructed:

Condo, Discontinued

77006, Buying and Selling, Condos, Hyde Park, Montrose

12/17/18 1:30pm

What To Expect When the Montrose Shake Shack Opens This Thursday

Hyde Park, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants

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WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN THE MONTROSE SHAKE SHACK OPENS THIS THURSDAY Aside from the standard beefy fare, here’s what you can expect to encounter at the chain’s new Burger-King-replacement location on Westheimer west of Montrose Blvd. when it opens this Thursday: tabletops made from “reclaimed bowling alley lanes,” a mural from local artist Michael Rodriguez (the same guy behind new female astronaut artwork next to Shake Shack’s Rice Village location and the colorful first floor of the former Battelstein’s building downtown), and a free Shake-Shack-themed holiday ornament for the first 100 customers (doors open at 11 a.m.). There are also a few Montrose-specific menu items planned at the 1002 Westheimer restaurant including custards acquired from nearby UB Preserv and less-nearby Fluff Bake Bar, as well as a carrot cake offering served with coffee grounds from the location’s next-door neighbor Blacksmith. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo of construction on Montrose Shake Shack: Swamplox inbox

77006, Fast Food, Hyde Park, Montrose, New Construction, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants

10/23/18 2:30pm

Corazon Is Leaving the Corner of Waugh and Fairview for Real This Time

Hyde Park, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail

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Following “four or five 3-month lease extensions,” the landlord of 2318 Waugh Dr. dropped by Corazon last Friday to give the business its 30-days notice, reports store owner Chris Murphy. Its exit date is now set for November 20, a Tuesday, so final sales will take place the weekend before. Murphy says he’d been working to track down a new location for the store since learning it’d have to leave more than a year ago — but hasn’t had any luck. Barring any last-minute workable option, “we’ll reluctantly have to liquidate fixtures and retreat toÂ various online platforms,” he says, in order to keep dealing guayaberas, Luca Libre masks, and other imports like the store has been doing since 1998. It’s shown around that year in the across-the-street photo above, which also gives a view of the landmark red dot on the building’s south side. (The taller building behind it occupies the same piece of land but was torn down in 2016.)

Next up for the 6,250-sq.-ft. parcel: a trio of townhomes. The landowner’s plan, says Murphy, “is to demolish the building immediately once we vacate,” and plant the new residences in a line like this along Fairview St.:

Towhomes Imminent

77006, Hyde Park, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail

10/11/18 11:30am

New Holes Have Opened Up the Center of the Westheimer Center

Hyde Park, Montrose, Renovations, Retail, Strip Centers

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A Swamplot reader reports that renovations to the shopping center on Westheimer across from Light Bulbs Unlimited “suddenly stopped about a month ago,” leaving a few gaping holes open in the face of the strip. Pictured at top is the space where Radio Shack once stuck out a few ft. from the rest of the building before it shut down along with the rest of the chain and sat vacant prior to the remodeling that began earlier this year.

Despite their presence on the marquee shown above, a number of the other tenants recently hit the road from the center as well: Tanacious Tanning, which occupied the spot (also wide open) just west of Radio Shack; Stars Cleaners, located off Commonwealth St. to the far west; and Consign It!, which punctuated the building’s eastern end. Their spaces are all up for lease right now, according to a LoopNet listing posted back in June. Nidda Thai Cuisine and its next-door neighbor Erotic Cabaret on the other hand appear to be sticking around.

An Inside Look

77006, Hyde Park, Montrose, Renovations, Retail, Strip Center

09/26/18 2:45pm

Montrose Shake Shack Shaping Up Nicely in Place of Burger King’s Throne

Hyde Park, Montrose, New Construction, Restaurants

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Wooden siding now covers up all but a small portion of Shake Shack‘s coming store at 1002 Westheimer, in the spot where Burger King collapsed 2 months ago. The new coverings have the restaurant looking a little more like what’s shown in the rendering put out by the burger brand at the end of last month, right around the time that work started on its new building.

Here’s what progress looks like from the west, outside Blacksmith:

Beefing Up Westheimer

77006, Hyde Park, Montrose, New Construction, Restaurants

08/17/18 10:00am

Montrose Shake Shack Construction Is About To Begin

Hyde Park, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Restaurants

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MONTROSE SHAKE SHACK CONSTRUCTION IS ABOUT TO BEGIN A building permit filed yesterday for the corner where Burger King’s been lying in pieces on Westheimer near Montrose Blvd. reveals construction is imminent on the Shack Shake set to replace it. Upon completion, it’ll be Houston’s fourth Shake Shack location, after the one in Rice Village, at the Galleria, and in section 157 at Minute Maid Park. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplox inbox

77006, Hyde Park, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Restaurants

08/09/18 2:15pm

Vibrant Trades Up Its New Fairview St. Trees for Even Newer Replacements

Hyde Park, Landscape, Montrose, Montrose, Restaurants

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A Swamplot reader sends a photo (top) of the trees that appear to have grown up outside the former McGowen CleanersÂ real fast since plant life was first added to the bedÂ (above) earlier this year. That’s because the crew now converting the place into a restaurant called Vibrant tore out the bushier trees just over a week ago and replaced them with a row of taller new cedars.

The swap-out left the bed short on plant life last Wednesday and Thursday:

Growth Spurt

77006, Adaptive Reuse, Hyde Park, Landscape, Montrose, Renovations, Restaurants

Demolitions

07/19/18 4:00pm

Montrose Blvd. Burger King Now Completely Ground Up Ahead of Coming Shake Shack Shakeup

Hyde Park, Montrose, Restaurants

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In other abandoned Montrose restaurant news: crews have finished smashing up the Burger King on Westheimer a block west of Montrose Blvd., leaving the property in fast food limbo ahead of its planned takeover by Houston’s fourth Shake Shack location. Pictured above is the restaurant’s drive-thru lane minus the accompanying drive-thru infrastructure.

A Cherry Demolition excavator is still picking through scraps left behind from the teardown; they’re now spread out atop the former building’s foundation, visible below:

Nothing-Burger

77019, Demolitions, Fast Food, Hyde Park, Montrose, Restaurants

07/16/18 5:00pm

Former McGowen Cleaners Now Looks More Vibrant as Restaurant Redo Takes Shape

Hyde Park, Montrose, Renovations, Restaurants

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A row of 3 tall windows now opens up the Fairview-St.-side of the former McGowen Cleaners, currently being converted into a health-minded restaurant dubbed Vibrant on the corner of Morse St. As for a patio shown cut into the building’s windowed corner in earlier renderings from architect Lake Flato — it’s yet to be installed. But a bunch of other outdoor features such as shrubs, grasses, and the beds that hold them are now in place outside the structure.

They’ve taken over the frontage previously occupied by chopped-up pavement:

Hyde Park

77019, Hyde Park, Montrose, Renovations, Restaurants

Condos

07/05/18 12:00pm

Mandell Montrose Leasing Office Shutters Next to Vacant Lot Where Midrise Hasn’t Risen

Hyde Park, Montrose, Openings and Closings

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The sales center for the not-yet-built Mandell Montrose condo slated for Fairview St. is now closed, and a representative of its sales team tells Swamplot that the developer has no plans to reopen it. Since the building’s abandonment, signage outside the converted Hyde Park residence taken over by the agents has adopted a lower position than it previously held on the structure, pictured above.

And in the neighboring 12,493-sq.-ft. lot on the corner of Fairview and Commonwealth streets — where Midtown Uptown Development Partners planned a 7-story, 24-unit midrise to overtop the surrounding neighborhood — the tallest structures are still the signs stuck up there just over a year ago:

Fairview and Commonwealth

77006, Condos, Hyde Park, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Real Estate Marketing

02/16/18 10:30am

Shake Shack Will Be Taking Over Former Burger King Drive-Thru on Westheimer at Montrose

Hyde Park, Montrose, Openings and Closings

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Shake Shack has taken over the lease on the building Burger King left last month at the corner of Westheimer and Lincoln, a block west of Montrose. The fast-casual restaurant with 2 current Houston locations and one in the works signed off last week on at least a 15-year residency at 1002 Westheimer, next to Blacksmith. Behind the soon-to-be re-burgerized building’s frontage on Westheimer — shown above — a parking lot backs up to California St. along Lincoln.

Previously on Swamplot: Burger King Has Stepped Down from the Corner of Montrose and Lincoln

Photo: MontroseResident

Fast Food Turnover

77006, Fast Food, Hyde Park, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

Hyde Park

01/03/18 5:00pm

The North Montrose Corner Behind River Oaks Plaza Lawyers Up

Proposed Developments

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Here’s the first sign of the new law office that plans to migrate to the corner of Dunlavy and W. Bell St., right behind the River Oaks Plaza shopping center. A Swamplot reader reports that a notice announcing the pending presence ofÂ David A. Breston and hisÂ AssociatesÂ went up on the 1820 W. Bell property on New Years Eve. The law firm’sÂ current office is on the corner of Main and Preston streets downtown.

In the portion of River Oaks Plaza directly across W. Bell St. from the site are the former Mama Fu’s and VERTS Kebap locations, now being remade into a new CafÃ© Ginger.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

Letters of the Law

77019, Hyde Park, Proposed Developments

Homes for Sale

12/28/17 5:15pm

Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: The Utility Closet

Hyde Park

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1219 W. Gray St. [HAR]

Homes for Sale, Hyde Park, Montrose

12/19/17 2:45pm

Bart Truxillo’s Backyard Townhouse Now For Sale with Its Front Yard Bungalow

Homes for Sale, Houston Architects, Hyde Park

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The Hyde Park townhouse at 1942 Indiana St. designed by Bart Truxillo — the architect and Houston preservationist who passed away earlier this year — is listed for sale along with its neighboring bungalow.Â A Swamplot reader reports that for sale signs first went up outside the 3-story home and the adjacent bungalow on the corner of Indiana and Morse St.,Â pictured on the right, on Friday.Â Although the 2 buildings have separate listings, the seller hopes to find a buyer who will purchase them both together.

Truxillo built the house in 1970 in what was then the bungalow’sÂ backyardÂ and lived in it for several years before moving to the Heights, where much of his preservation work was focused. The corner-side bungalow faces Morse St., while the townhouse directly behind it fronts Indiana.

The photo at top shows the 2,096-sq.-ft. townhouse’s first-floor interior, with a courtyard visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Behind the stairway, another ground-floor room fronts the outdoor space: