This photo of the strip center just west of the Lower Westheimer restaurant row shows the recently closed Tejas Custom Boots and Hollywood Food & Cigars. A Swamplot reader says that a sign posted in the window here at Helen and 208 Westheimer says that the alligator- and ostrich-unfriendly bootmakers will be moving the stretching and stitching operations farther west to the 400 block of Westheimer. As of Friday morning, calls to Tejas Custom Boots for comment about the relocation and reopening haven’t been returned. City records show that the 4,100-sq.-ft. 1960 building and 11,322-sq.-ft. property are owned by a single family.
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Read more about: 77006, Avondale, Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail, Strip Centers
The only thing that’s really changed about 3400 Montrose, a tipster tells Swamplot, is the name of its owner: Global Paragon, which bought the former podium for Scott Gertner’s Skybar in 2011, went “belly up” this past November, the tipster says, and the vacant 10-story building’s now owned and managed by a 40-person LLC that’s looking for a buyer or a joint venture.
And that’s where these interior photos, from a short-on-info listing posted recently on Cushman & Wakefield’s website, come in:
Continue Reading This Story >
Read more about: 77006, Buildings for Sale, Commercial Real Estate, Interiors, Montrose, Office Buildings, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Marketing, Vacant Buildings
Yesterday, reports abc13, the city added to the original 3 B-Cycle kiosks 18 more, bringing the fleet of pay-to-play bikes to 175. Thus far, most of the rental racks are clustered Downtown — including the one shown here at the Tellepsen Family YMCA on Pease St. — but the expansion, funded wth $750,000 from Blue Cross and Blue Shield, also added racks to Hermann Park and the Westheimer restaurant row near Blacksmith and Underbelly. And even more are planned, says abc13, for the East End, the Med Center, and unnamed universities. (You can mess around with an interactive map of B-Cycle locations here and here.) [abc13; Houston Chronicle; B-Cycle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West
Read more about: 77002, Bicycles, Downtown, Montrose, Transportation
Dallas developer Behringer Harvard announced today that construction’s underway on The Muse, an apartment complex planned for the 2.9 acres in Castle Court sold last summer where the former Andover Richmond Apartments had stood — until their demolition in November — for 50 years. The Muse, developed by a partnership between Behringer Harvard and Trammell Crow, will have 4 stories with 270 units atop 2 levels of parking, says the press release. Also planned for the site at 1301 Richmond near Graustark? “Common-area amenities will include a cyber cafe, business center, state-of-the-art fitness center, luxury swimming pool and dog-amenity station.” [PR Newswire; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West
Read more about: 77006, Apartments, Castle Court, Montrose, New Construction
Spring’s a time of renewal: And the Yoakum St. apartments — and palm trees, too — pictured here came down this winter so something very like this office building could begin going up. Campanile South, it’s called, is being described by developers Hansen Partners as a 6-story, 82,000-sq.-ft. “boutique” space with retail and restaurants facing Richmond Ave. Setting up on a lot between Yoakum and Graustark, Campanile South will be be the 7th member of the Campanile family that’s clustered around St. Thomas University the University of St. Thomas and Montrose Blvd.; it’s expected to be ready for tenants in 2014.
Continue Reading This Story >
Read more about: 77006, Demolitions, Land Development, Montrose, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space, Proposed Developments
Could it be . . . time? A reader claims to have spotted the first inside-the-Loop Dunkin’ Donuts — or at least the future home of it. Last spring, franchise group 521 Interests announced plans to open 16 new Dunkin’ Donuts in Houston; this photo taken this morning in Montrose at the corner of South Shepherd and Fairview shows what might be the first of those, now that the former Arby’s is festooned with the donut makers’ orange and pink signage. Claiming, among other achievements in food and beverage, to be the nation’s top bagel retailer, Dunkin’ Donuts will be just a block and a half away from the Hot Bagel Shop.
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Read more about: 77019, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Signage
So the excavator is sneaking up on the old Fiesta. You knew one was coming. And you know there will be more. As of this morning, the low-slung building at the corner of Dunlavy and West Alabama hasn’t yet received a demolition permit, but it’s been on the smashing block since closing in July, not too long after H-E-B opened the Montrose Market across the street. Developer Marvy Finger, who now owns the property here in Lancaster Place, has said he plans to build something Mediterranean — a 6- to 8-story apartment complex that might or might not have some retail, too: “We’re going to try to create something really beautiful,” he’s told the Houston Chronicle’s Nancy Sarnoff.
Photo: Loves swamplot
Read more about: 77098, Apartments, Demolitions, Grocery Stores, H-E-B Montrose Market, Lancaster Place, Montrose, Proposed Developments
Far away from the Amsterdam canal along which it was originally envisioned (though perhaps with slimmer proportions), this timber-frame structure has been a stand-out property on Dunlavy since the mid-aughts. It’s a mixed-use building; its barreled-with-a-flattish-top roof — with an outlined upper lip — adds higher stucco stylin’ to the neighborhood just north of Westheimer. The retail-residence has 3 levels — each with some distinctively hewn and preserved wooden ceilings.
The work of former owner (and gallerist) Albert Cherqui, in 2010 the venue became the focus of a lawsuit filed by Cherqui — by then its tenant — against the building’s current owners. (The suit was settled out of court last year.) It shares a mostly commercial street that’s lined by galleries, shops, warehouses, apartments, and repurposed postwar houses. Inside, the all-in-one main floor — described glowingly in the listing as “cavernous” — includes a wavy pair of Gaudi-inspired staircases (above). They lead to 2 upper floors of living quarters, each with its own kitchen and yet more timberland touches.
Continue Reading This Story >
Read more about: 77006, Art Galleries, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Hyde Park Heights, Interiors, Lawsuits, Mixed Use, Montrose
This corner at Mandell and West Main near Richmond and the Menil Collection has lost another tenant; Sophia bowed out of the freestanding brick building at the end of February. It was back in 2008 when Sophia’s predecessor Café Artiste kept this “closed today” sign posted in the window for an entire month, receiving your questions and comments without betraying a word; Sophia’s sand-bagged sign, spotted by a Swamplot reader at the end of last week, doesn’t appear to have inspired the same level of community feedback just yet.
Photos: Jack McBride (Sophia); Flickr user DrPantzo [license]
Read more about: 77006, Buildings for Lease, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Signage
February 22, 2013 – 3:00 pm
A native Houstonian has set up a one-man bicycle-messenger service, reports Culturemap’s Whitney Radley: Within an hour, Clutch Delivery’s Liam Musgrave will pedal to your place almost anything — except dry cleaning, pets, and “illicit substances.” This map shows his service area, extending west out to the Loop and east to Lockwood.
Continue Reading This Story >
Read more about: Bicycles, Maps, Midtown, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail, Streets
February 13, 2013 – 9:30 am
Will the recent purchase, a reader wants to know, of a 105,000-sq.-ft. building out near Spring Branch by Admiral Linen & Uniform Services mean anything for the company’s much-smaller headquarters at 2030 Kipling St.? Well, Admiral Linen isn’t available for comment.
The company closed just after Christmas on the building at 8020 Blankenship Dr., near Hempstead and Bingle. Since 1998, according to city records, it’s owned the three-building, 24,000-sq.-ft. headquarters a block west east of South Shepherd and directly behind the Randalls on Westheimer.
Continue Reading This Story >
Read more about: 77055, 77098, Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Industrial Buildings, Montrose, Spring-Branch
February 12, 2013 – 4:15 pm
Renderings aren’t ready to be released, says Assistant Manager Lindsay Fouchee, but under-construction Phase II of the Fairmont Museum District at Richmond and Dunlavy will have more units and more amenities. (The photo directly above shows the excavation of what will be the parking garage.) The 4-story, 210,933-sq.-ft. apartments back up to the dog run and baseball diamond at Ervan Chew Park and U.S. 59. Phase I was completed in 2007; Fouchee expects Phase II to be done within 14 months.
Photos: Allyn West
Read more about: 77006, Apartments, Montrose, New Construction, Proposed Developments
Comment of the Day: Looking for the Hotel Montrose
“Hotel Hotel Hotel. A hotel is long overdue for Montrose. Kimpton, Aloft, W or some other modern brand would be great. I am no developer, so I have no idea if it is doable but it would be welcome. It has the bones and imagine a hip hotel pool bar on that roof! I bring people into Houston who are considering moving here from the West Coast and Northeast. They want to live in an inner city hip walking area; Montrose generally. I don’t want them staying downtown where the streets are dead at night. The ZaZa is great but it is too far to walk to Westheimer. The Galleria has too much traffic. In the end though, I generally recommend the Derek or the ZaZa. If not here then a new build at the corner of Montrose and Westheimer. And what is the story about that lot on Westheimer near Dunlavy where it looks like construction started at one time? Hotel possibility? I am really really convinced that Montrose needs a hotel!” [charlie, commenting on What 3400 Montrose Looks Like Inside]