Swamplot Archives by Tag:
Retail
Friday, November 6, 2009
November 6, 2009 – 8:13 pm
Lauren Meyers, archivist of would-be Houston, digs up an earlier plan for a building at 4500 Bissonnet, on the corner of Mulberry St. in Bellaire. That’s the vacant property long in the possession of legendarily delinquent Wilshire Village landlord Jay H. Cohen, where Matt Dilick, the man who now apparently controls it, is planning to build a 2ish-story stucco mild-West meets retail-Tuscan strip center and sell off the rest of the land.
Back in 1946, Cohen’s father, who had developed the Wilshire Village Apartments on West Alabama and Dunlavy 6 years earlier, planned a 122-home subdivision on the 30-acre strip between Avenue A (now Newcastle St.) and Mulberry St. with a partner. And at the southern end of the property, facing Richmond Rd. (now Bissonnet St.), a sweeping, low-slung modern structure spanning Howard St.: the Mulberry Manor Community Center, designed by Houston architects Lloyd & Morgan.
Meyers quotes a Houston Chronicle report from September 1, 1946:
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Read more about: 77401, Bellaire, Commercial Real Estate, Houston Architects, Houston History, Land for Sale, Leasing, Proposed Developments, Retail, Strip Centers
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
November 3, 2009 – 10:15 am
Let’s see . . . there was today’s planned foreclosure auction for Wilshire Village. What else does Matt Dilick of Commerce Equities have going on?
Swamplot’s neighborhood correspondent for Bellaire reports on Commerce Equities’ proposed development on one portion of a couple of long-vacant tracts at the northeast corner of Bissonnet and Newcastle:
The plots of land at 4400 and 4500 Bissonnet, between Newcastle and the Centerpoint service center, are being cut up and sold. . . .
Evidence of surveying and subdivision in recent weeks has recently given way to signboards indicating that the north third of the open land at 4500 Bissonnet will be cut up into six residential lots while the two-thirds fronting Bissonnet is reserved for commercial. The next block over, across Howard Street, commercial space is being developed to open before April of 2010. According to flyers on broker David Nettles’s website, approximately 62% of the 20,000-some-odd square feet of office space is still available.
But the two parcels — totaling almost 4 acres — have more of a connection to Wilshire Village than just the involvement of Dilick.
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Read more about: 77401, Bellaire, Commercial Real Estate, Land for Sale, Leasing, Proposed Developments, Retail, Strip Centers
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
October 28, 2009 – 1:00 pm
How big is the newly expanded mega-Kroger on 11th and Shepherd? So big that a Swamplot reader standing in the parking lot couldn’t fit the entire store in one photo. The best attempt, above, shows the place is “too big to do that now.” At 96,000 sq. ft., the Merchants Park Shopping Center Kroger at 1035 N. Shepherd is now apparently the largest grocery store inside Houston city limits.
The new section of the store opened last Friday, reports our reader,
to much rejoicing in the Heights. Both the new and the old section of the store is in use. I assume now that the new part is open they will begin renovations on the old part of the store.
The new part of the store has a Starbucks, large produce section & bakery, Mediterranean bar, hot food bar, and prepared foods section.
More reader-submitted pics from inside and out:
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Read more about: 77008, Grocery Stores, Houston Heights, Redevelopment, Renovations, Retail, Shopping Centers
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
October 27, 2009 – 3:55 pm
Snapped from the porch of Lola at 11th and Yale last week by a Swamplot reader: this photo of the 1903 Perry-Swilley House, formerly known to reside at 1101 Heights Blvd., and headed for 1103.
The city architectural and historical commission gave permission last year for the home to be moved one lot to the north. Swamplot reported on the owner’s plans for the site last November.
Why is the home being raised? So parking for that strip center planned for the corner can fit underneath.
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Read more about: 77008, Housemoving, Houston Heights, Parking, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Retail, Strip Centers
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
October 21, 2009 – 5:57 pm
Just a couple items this time:
- Closing: The Dunkin Donuts at 5406 Bellaire Blvd. near Bissonnet, after more than 2 decades in the same spot. When it’s gone, there’ll be just 4 of the chain’s locations left in the Houston area. The Bellaire Examiner’s Steve Mark:
[Owner Henry] Tsao’s current agreement with the donut chain is expiring; the company requires new agreements to last a 10-year duration with a new set of parameters for facility and mechanical upgrades totaling as much as $400,000. Tsao, 62, doesn’t want to make a long-term commitment at his age and isn’t inclined to make the required financial reinvestment, so his store will close Oct. 24.
- Moved to the Rice Village: Dog- and baby-friendly Olivine has taken over the former location of Back Be Nimble at 2405 Rice Blvd. Making the trip from Uptown Park: owner Helen Stroud’s collection of linens, loungewear, and reproduction and slipcovered furniture. In the back: baby clothes. Cote de Texas’s Joni Webb reports:
Helen spent all of September getting the new shop ready – and if you ever wanted to check out wall to wall seagrass, this is your chance – I think she bought out all the rolls of it available in town.
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Read more about: 77005, 77401, Bellaire, Fast Food, Franchises, Home Decor, Openings and Closings, Retail, Rice-Village
Thursday, October 15, 2009
October 15, 2009 – 3:13 pm
Updates on a few restaurants Swamplot has been following:
- Reopened: Azzarelli’s, an Italian-American restaurant that began the year in Cinco Ranch’s Tuscan-themed Villagio Town Center, then (after a notable exit) camped for a while (as Azzarelli’s Corner Café) in another center at 6455 South Fry Road, opened last week in its 4th location within just a couple of years: 17754 Katy Freeway, Suite B, I-10 at Barker Cypress. “With this great location, I will be open 365 days a year,” owner Frank Triola tells his press-release copywriter.
- Opening Soon: The restaurant going into the former Cue & Cushion pool hall at 510 Shepherd that Swamplot reported on earlier this fall now has a name: Branch Water Tavern — and a more palatable label than “gastropub.” Try “Modern American Tavern.” Chef David Grossman says it’ll open later this month, but the Houston Press’s Robb Walsh, who’s toured the construction site, thinks Christmas is more likely.
More eats:
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Read more about: 77007, 77008, 77094, 77494, Barker Cypress, Brunner, Cinco Ranch, Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Retail
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
October 7, 2009 – 4:57 pm
A reader reports that the long-shuttered and fallow former Target store on the northbound 59 feeder just north of Bellaire Blvd. (and across the freeway from the Sharpstown Mall) will finally be used for something productive — though it’s “probably not the kind of use the Greater Sharpstown Management District had in mind.” What’s that?
The new owner, Golden Sharpstown Inc, is reportedly in the process of turning the 160,000 square foot building into the new home of Texas Jasmine, “the leading wholesaler for C-Store Owners.” (That’s Convenience Store, for the uninitiated.) Texas Jasmine is out of space at their old location [at 7800 Harwin near Fondren, pictured above], and does a thriving business supplying gas stations and convenience stores throughout Houston with everything from dill pickles-in-a-bag to pipe tobacco.
Well, who doesn’t need a dill pickle in a bag now and then? How convenient for the convenience-store owners, no?
Sure, says our tipster, but:
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Read more about: 77074, Convenience Stores, Leasing, Retail, Sharpstown, Vacant Buildings
Thursday, September 24, 2009
September 24, 2009 – 7:54 pm
Strictly speaking, Starbucks number 3 at the corner of West Gray and Shepherd is the new “Barnes and Noble Cafe” inside the just-opened bookstore. But we all know who calls the shots there.
And now we know: The universe is without end.
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Read more about: 77019, Cafes, Chain-Stores, Retail, River Oaks, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
September 15, 2009 – 10:11 am
A few details on that new Whole Foods Market planned for the corner of West Dallas and Waugh, just south of the now AIG-sign-free America Tower: Finger Companies, the owners of the land, says the new store will be 40,000 sq. ft. — slightly smaller than reported when the company first announced the project more than a year ago. Also: The store will have “a variety of eco-conscious elements and tons of inviting space for neighbors to congregate.”
The Finger Companies says the Whole Foods will be built “in conjunction with the developer’s proposed new luxury apartment project.” That project, also announced in the spring of 2008, was slated for the eastern portion of the site, closer to Montrose Blvd.
Image: The Finger Companies
Read more about: 77019, Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Land Development, Leasing, Montrose, North Montrose, Proposed Developments, Retail, Whole Foods
Monday, September 14, 2009
September 14, 2009 – 12:10 pm
A reader snaps this photo of the former pink Taco Cabana drive-thru at the corner of Montrose and Westheimer, “now painted white w red stripes at the bottom” — and asks if we know what’s going in there. Fortunately, another reader has the answer:
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Read more about: 77006, Fast Food, Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail
Thursday, September 10, 2009
September 10, 2009 – 11:58 am
On the list of dealerships General Motors intends to shut down: Knapp Chevrolet, at 815 Houston Ave. just south of Washington. Back in May, GM notified the longtime Downtown dealership of its intent to terminate its franchise agreement as of Halloween 2010.
Since then, the dealership’s owners have been trying to get the decision reversed: President Robert G. Knapp presented his case to a congressional subcommittee in July, after several appeals to the company were rejected. Knapp claims his dealership has been profitable, and that closing the dealership would significantly hobble GM’s local market share. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has gotten involved, introducing a bill in Congress that would make it easier for dealerships to appeal franchise terminations in court. Knapp is also collecting a list of supporters through an online petition to GM. More than 6,200 supporters have added their names to the list so far.
One of those supporters: The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance, fans of Knapp’s moderne corner building, completed in 1941, 2 years after the dealership was first established.
Photo of Knapp Chevrolet: Chris Adams
Read more about: 77007, Auto Dealerships, Downtown, Historic Preservation, Old-Sixth-Ward, Openings and Closings, Retail, Washington Corridor
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
August 26, 2009 – 3:38 pm
“. . . I swear to you — some plumber supply places got it going on. We needed a new water heater and some parts that go with that for the new tenant. So I headed out to find the proper supplies. There’s a couple different plumbing supply places that I’ve seen this set up at now: a long countertop with stools in front of it. People sit on the stools and chat with people on the other side of the counter about all sorts of stuff. It looks like a bar. The place I went to today had the coolest barstools too. They were old metal barstools with white vinyl seats that said ‘Rheem Water Heater’ on them. They’re all beat up and worn. The place is an old building in the warehouse district. It’s hot - there’s no A/C. A warehouse door pulled up lets an all too infrequent summer breeze blow in. The floor is old wood panel that had seen rough wear for years. The men behind the counter were older, smoking, and turn on polite charm for me, a woman, looking for some odd part. I want to hang out here, talk about the job, the work site. Things I can’t do because I have no idea about any of it. But it looks fun. I know I’m romanticizing it. But I imagine tall tales get told here: competitive stories about who found the grossest thing come out of a clogged pipe, or weird disaster jobs with insane and creative resolutions on the fly.” [Dog Food Sugar]
Read more about: Plumbing, Retail, Warehouse District
Monday, August 17, 2009
August 17, 2009 – 11:07 am
You were maybe planning to stop by the Bookstop in the old Alabama Theater on Shepherd for one last browse before the store closes on September 15th? Do a little clearance-sale shopping, grab a coffee up on the balcony and look out over that live-on-stage magazine stand?
It may be a little too late for that now. On the Houston Press Twitter feed this weekend, Katharine Shilcutt reported that the upper levels of the store are already cleared and closed . . . for good.
Photo: Houston Press
Read more about: 77098, Alabama Theater, Commercial Real Estate, Historic Preservation, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby, Weingarten Realty
Comment of the Day: H-E-B in the Heights
“. . . Other good Heights grocery news is that HEB is seriously considering opening a store on Heights BLVD. just across the street from The Art Car Museum.” [EMME, commenting on Expanded Heights Kroger: Now Wider Than Wide Angle]