07/02/18 2:30pm

Bethany United Methodist Church has officially closed its doors at 3511 Linkwood Dr. after 68 years of services, putting a question mark on the map between Timberside Dr. and Buffalo Spdwy. At the back of the 5.5-acre religious complex, a portion devoted to the Bethany Methodist Weekday School remains open. But the church — which occupies the majority of the structure’s 48,000 sq. ft. — has been shuttered since early last month.

The last time Bethany planned to use its land for non-clerical purposes, it signed off on a 4-story senior living development that would’ve gone right up on a portion of the church complex — but the midrise never got off the ground. Had it risen, it would’ve been the first real shakeup on the block since the late ’90s, when the decades-old Dome Shadows nightclub fronting Buffalo Spdwy. bit the dust and nearly 70 newly-built homes rose up in its place — just east of the church.

Here’s what the club looked like on one of its slower days:

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Latest Religious Relics
12/06/16 12:00pm

9230 Buffalo Spdwy., Houston, 77025

The ribbed tank hiding behind the track excavator in the north-facing shot above will soon be going completely underground, per current plans at the corner of Durhill St. and Buffalo Spdwy. First Stop Food Store, the current occupant of the retail shell on the property, sits right across Buffalo Spdwy. from one of the 2 planned senior living facilities in the vicinity — that property is just out of the frame to the right, while one of the houses in the Pemberton Circle gated townhome cluster can be seen peeking over the fence on the left.

The 1950s convenience store building and property itself changed hands early last year. Here’s a shot from July, a few happy months before the parking lot breakup seen above:

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Tanking Up
10/18/16 2:30pm

Bethany United Methodist Church, 3511 Linkwood Dr., Linkwood, Houston, 77025

Bethany United Methodist Church recently posted some FAQs and answers about its plans to put a senior living development on its property, a reader in the area tells Swamplot. The land is south of the intersection of Linkwood and Bevlyn drives, and may be one of the 4 potential adult active-living housing projects Stream Realty mentioned to Paul Takahashi back in April, as the church’s website says the project’s developer is currently working on the Solea Copperfield senior living complex in Northwest Houston (just south of Birkes Elementary on Queenston Blvd.). The website also notes that 51 of the 101 living units would be rented out to folks with a household income between 33,000 and 45,000 at below-market rates.

The church’s main entrance is about a third of a mile from that set of lots stretching from Buffalo Spdwy. to Main St. where some stirrings were seen in July; a drawing submitted as part of a variance request put in for that land calls that project Traditions Buffalo Speedway Senior:

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Plans Maturing in Braeswood Place
10/13/16 11:00am

Brays Bayou from Buffalo Speedway to Bevelyn, Linkwood, Houston, 77025

A mobile reader sends some fresh shots of not-quite-green-yet redone greenway along Brays Bayou, looking west from Buffalo Spdway. along S. Braeswood Blvd. The Harris County flood control folks have been widening this section of the channelized stream this fall as they work their way through the Project Brays checklist; the stretch seen above and below is about 2 miles downstream of some of those more submersion-prone areas of Meyerland near the Brays crossing under 610.

The new trail is a fair bit wider and smoother than the one it’s replacing — for some soggy comparison, here’s a view of the trail from around noon on Tax Day, just up past the next bend near where Ilona Ln. meets S. Braeswood:

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Widening Greenways and Waterways
03/04/09 11:16am

As the retail churns . . .

  • Reopening Soon: The original Three Brothers Bakery next to Brays Bayou in Linkwood, closed since Hurricane Ike, has a permit in hand to rebuild. Cynthia Lescalleet reports in the River Oaks Examiner:

    While the exterior of the building, 4036 South Braeswood Blvd., will retain the colors, 60s-vintage architectural elements and windows of its past, the inside has been reconfigured a bit to be “cozy,” with a more efficient layout.

    Among the tweaking are the addition of a small room for wedding consultations and staff offices that look out over the interior so they can see and connect with the customers they’ve missed since Hurricane Ike damaged the business, [co-owner Janice] Jucker said.

    “We’re almost like therapists over the bakery counter,” she said.

    But: no plans to return to the River Oaks Shopping Center or Sugar Land.

    Any future expansion would likely be into properties the bakery would own and build itself, she said: “We want control over our destiny.”

    Near the end of the 10- to 12-week building project, the building’s crooked sign will be re-set. If you see a straight sign, that’ll mean the bagels are almost ready.

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01/08/09 8:38pm

Knollwood Village was the clear favorite of this week‘s neighborhood guessers, with 4 of you spotting the house there. A few more guesses huddled nearby in the southwest corner of the Loop: Linkwood, Woodshire, Woodside, “south of Braeswood between Buffalo Speedway and Stella Link,” and “the neighborhood South of Holcombe/Bellaire and West of Stella Link behind the Palace Lanes (Lanark St).” Riverside Terrace got 2 votes. The rest: Meyerland, Afton Oaks, “around the Galleria, Chimney Rock, Richmond area,” Bellaire, Antoine/43rd St. off 290, Willowbend, east Westbury, Braes Heights, Ayrshire, Robindell, Long Point Woods, Royal Oaks, and Shadow Oaks.

Great work, everyone!

We had 2 winners this week. Chris, who included all the right names in this neighborhood roundup:

. . . ahhh those corner windows, itsy-bitsy crown molding, and green tile betray this home’s location. The only area I know of that is so corner-window crazy is the Knollwood/Linkwood/Woodshire/Woodside part of the inner loop.

And Swamplot-Award-winner Miz Brooke Smith, who turned in another strong performance:

I would narrow the area to south of Braeswood between Buffalo Speedway and Stella Link. The living room-dining room-kitchen layout, quality and nature of the wood floors, old-fashioned wooden bathroom cabinets & knobs, proportion of door to 8′ ceiling height, and tell-tale brass-colored doorknobs also speak of this time & place. Same goes for the view out the window through mature oak limbs to the one-story brick rancher across the street (both of which — house & roadbed — doubtless have their share of historic clay-gumbo cracks and seams). The handsome re-do includes new windows, and perhaps a built-out sun room and porch off the kitchen, overlooking the backyard deck?

Honorable mentions go to all the Knollwood Village guessers — Joni Webb, toadfroggy, and Pat — who were close but ended up on the wrong side of Buffalo Speedway.

And here it is:

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