Tag: Rice-Village

08/29/18 5:00pm

Rice Village Dat Dog Receives TABC Blessing

Quicklink, Restaurants, Rice Village

10 Comments

RICE VILLAGE DAT DOG RECEIVES TABC BLESSING Across the street from Torchy’s and next door to Hopdoddy Burger Bar, the vacant corner storefront at 5504 Morningside now has clearance to serve guests alcohol. It’s the most recent development for the space since a TABC notice appeared in the window, signalling that New Orleans hot dog chain Dat Dog was on its way there. Inside, the lights are on but there’s still nothing inside. Co-working space Platform Houston was the last to occupy its 2,919 sq. ft. Photo: Swamplox inbox

77005, Quicklink, Restaurants, Rice-Village, Signage

08/28/18 9:45am

Tiger Noodle House Seizing Ten Thousand Villages, Handful of Parking Spots

Renovations, Restaurants, Retail, Rice Village

2424 Rice Blvd., Suite A. is about to become part of Katy Chinese chain Tiger Noodle Houseâ€™s 2-restaurant dynasty. Since nonprofit home goods shop Ten Thousand Villages left the storefront — its last in Houston — between H&R Block and neighboring occult shop Serenity Studio, all of its meterless parking spots have been hogged by the dumpster shown above.

It’s been on standby as renovators take things out of the 2,664-sq.ft. interior.Â Now, they’re about to start putting things in: a building permit filed yesterday gives clearance for the restaurant conversion to begin.

Photo: Swamplox inbox

Village Arrivals

77005, Renovations, Restaurants, Retail, Rice-Village

07/24/18 10:30am

Warby Parker Will Pick Up Where Yankee Candle Left Off in Rice Village

Openings and Closings, Retail

The storefront between Athleta and Altar’d State on University Blvd. won’t be vacant for much longer: a building permit filed yesterday indicates Warby Parker is about to move into the space. Before it gets there, a few renovations will overhaul the 2,500-sq.-ft. box pictured at top, which lost its Yankee Candle lettering (shown above) around January when the former tenant wrapped up its close-out sale and shut its doors for good.

Previously on Swamplot: Rice Village Yankee Candle Going Dark This Month

Photos: Trademark (vacant store); Swamplox inboxÂ (Yankee Candle)

Village Newcomer

77005, Openings and Closings, Retail, Rice-Village

07/09/18 3:00pm

ArtMix Studio Debuts in Times Blvd. Storefront That a Part of G&G Model Shop Still Won’t Let Go Of

Openings and Closings, Renovations, Retail, Rice Village, Signs

2 Comments

Since longtime Times Blvd. tenant G&G Model Shop left its storefront last August, the space has been whitened, renovated and snapped up by ArtMix Creative Learning Center — a children’s art school that relocated from 3701 W. Alabama St. earlier this year. But the model shop — located at 2522 Times for over 60 years — remains attached to the space. A G&G representative told Swamplot previously that the metal sign would follow the business over to its new spot in the strip center at the corner of 59 and Shepherd (home to a few more elderly Rice Village expats as well).

But just last Thursday, a poster on HAIF noted that address is still crowned by a temporary vinyl banner:

Rice Village Relics

77005, Openings and Closings, Renovations, Retail, Rice-Village, Signs

03/07/18 12:00pm

Colorful Bubble-Like Patterns Now Popping Up Along Amherst Street and Its Banks in Rice Village

Public Art, Rice Village

New possibly aquatic-themed street and sidewalk art is bubbling up on Amherst St. west of Kelvin Dr. in Rice Village. The photo at top views a few of the freshly-laid, not-quite-concentric circles from outside the Everything But Water swimwear store that occupies part of the recently renovated retail building on Amherst St. The designs are being placed there by Crossroads Decorative Pavement — whose truck is on site in the photo above looking toward Kelvin.

Here’s a view of what’s under foot on the southern bank of Amherst:

Moistening the Pavement

77005, Public Art, Rice-Village

02/02/18 5:00pm

How Shake Shack Is Shaping Up on the Village Arcade Corner of Kirby and Amherst

Renovations, Restaurants, Retail

16 Comments

Construction on Shake Shack’s new burger hub in Rice Village — next door to the coming Rice University clothing boutique on Amherst — looks about medium well now that the brick building has been blackened, stripped of its awnings, and shielded by a metal frame bearing all-caps signage. La Madeleine restaurant left the building last March ahead of renovations planned for the entire Village Arcade structure between Kirby and Kelvin.

A Rice Village property manager announced in 2016 that the born-in-Manhattan chain with current locations as far-flung as Bahrain was on its way to Kirby. Back then, Houston was completely Shack-less, but that changed when a debut location opened in a Galleria parking lot later that year. Since then, one other Shake Shack has cropped up in the city — behind center field in Minute Maid Park.

Faster Food

Renovations, Restaurants, Retail, Rice-Village, Shopping Centers

02/02/18 12:00pm

Rice U. Apparel Store Preparing To Nest Next to Coming Rice Village Shake Shack

Openings and Closings, Retail, Rice University, Rice Village

1 Comment

Now on its way to a portion of the Village Arcade building on Amherst that La Madeleine restaurant abandoned last March: Shop Rice Owls, a clothing and merchandise store selling exclusively Rice University gear. The 1,071-sq.-ft. off-white-walled space beneath the rooftop Rice Village parking garage was once the east end of La Madeleineâ€™s space on the corner of Amherst and Kirby. A partly-built Shack Shake has since taken over the French bakery’s former home — but not all of it, leaving room for the off-campus store to squeeze in between the back side of the fast-food spot and the staircase leading up to the garage.

A view looking east down Amherst shows more renovated storefronts lining the street to the right of the stairs, in place of the black-awninged brick building that stood on the block before 2016: Â CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Rice Village Homecoming

77005, Openings and Closings, Renovations, Retail, Rice Univeristy, Rice-Village

01/12/18 4:00pm

Rice Village Yankee Candle Going Dark This Month

Openings and Closings, Retail, Rice Village

Thereâ€™s some news about the space next door to Athleta in the Rice Village Arcade shopping center on University Blvd. where mannequins were spotted limbering up on the sidewalk the other day: it’s about to shut down. A source tells Swamplot that national retailer Yankee Candle will close the store — one of 8 locations in the Houston area — on January 28.

A sign in the storefront window announces its last big blowout:

Leaving the Village

77005, Openings and Closings, Retail, Rice-Village, Shopping Centers

01/08/18 2:30pm

The Undressed, Huddled Figures Found Warming Up This Morning Outside a Rice Village Clothing Store

Retail, Rice Village

1 Comment

Spotted in the pre-retail hours at 2512 University Blvd. by morning Rice Village dog-walker Gerrit Leeftink: This convocation of under-dressed athletic figures — in warm-up mode outside the local outlet of women’s clothing chain Athleta.

More views of the gathering, as participants awaited their new attire indoors:

Street Mannequins of University Blvd.

77005, Retail, Rice-Village

Comments

12/26/17 4:15pm

Comment of the Day: Rice Village, Class of ’47

Houston History, Quicklink, Retail, Rice Village

COMMENT OF THE DAY: RICE VILLAGE, CLASS OF ’47 “Collegiate Cleaners is now Rice Villageâ€™s oldest business, by both age and location.” [James Glassman, commenting on Old Rice Village Shops in Exile Reconvene at the Strip Center off 59] Photo: Collegiate Cleaners

77005, Comments, Houston History, Retail, Rice-Village

06/27/17 2:30pm

Checking in on the Work Underway at Baileson Brewing Company, the Tiniest Car-Repair-Shop-Turned Brewery Ever to Hit Bissonnet

Proposed Developments, Renovations, Rice Village

The startup 3-barrel “nano-brewery” carving its ferment-and-serve spaces out of the former Bissonnet Auto Service Center garage on Bissonnet St. between Kirby and GreenbriarÂ isÂ scheduled for a Labor Day Weekend opening, according to a recent report in the Chronicle. New glazedÂ overhead doors have beenÂ installed in the 2 garage bays, but according to this photo of the spot from earlier today, there’sÂ still a bit of work going on inside.

If future passers-by do a double-take after seeing drinkers out on the front patio of the single-story structure at 2322 Bissonnet, it might be because the brewery-barÂ will be next door to the former Kay’s Lounge, also a single-story building serving drinks onÂ a front patio, which was demolished last fall. These homes are scheduled to go up on that site.

Houston’s Baileson Brewing edges closer to opening later this summer [Houston Chronicle]
Previously on Swamplot: Baileson Brewery Planned in Former Auto Shop Next to Emptied Kayâ€™s Lounge Spot

Photo: Swamplot inbox

77005, Bars, Breweries, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Rice-Village

06/27/17 11:00am

If You Like the Idea of Living Upstairs from Kay’s Lounge, Here’s the Next Best Thing

New Construction, Proposed Developments, Rice Village, Townhomes

6 Comments

NewlyÂ postedÂ to MLS: a listing for 1 of the 6 ~~townhomes~~Â patio homes from Frasier Homes intended for the site of the former Kay’s Lounge. Garages, spare bedrooms, and side yards only will grace the ground floors of the propertiesÂ in this shared-driveway 6-pack, however, because Kay’s Lounge itself — an establishment that was founded back in 1939 — was demolished last year.Â The new residential compound covers both the Kay’s lot, formerly known as 2334 Bissonnet, andÂ the oneÂ immediatelyÂ to the west at 2332 Bissonnet, which formerly housed an adjacent structure as well asÂ longtime bar’s parking lot.

But if it’s the idea of living veryÂ close to storied nightlife that attracted you to this property in the first place, don’t beÂ disappointed: Just next door to this property, in the formerÂ Bissonnet Auto Service Center at 2322 Bissonnet, a new brewery and lounge called Baileson Brewing CompanyÂ is about to open. The fourth-floor patios at the top of the homes at 2332 Bissonnet (pictured at top right in the rendering above) will overlook Baileson’s driveway-turned-drinking-patio directly.

Here’sÂ the second view from the listing, showing how the shared-drive fronts of the 3 units on the Baileson side might look if they’re completed before the other 3 are begun (they’d be in the foreground):

New Neighbors in Rice Village

77005, Bars, Patio-Homes, Proposed Developments, Rice-Village, Townhomes

Comments

05/11/17 4:15pm

Comment of the Day: Rice Village Parking Meter Pushback Pushback

by Christine Gerbode

Quicklink

21 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: RICE VILLAGE PARKING METER PUSHBACK PUSHBACK “Donâ€™t understand the hostility about parking meters. Visited the Briar Shoppe recently, easily found a spot to park, and it cost me a buck. One (1) dollar ($). Took a credit card, no change needed. Thereâ€™s something else going on here.” [Gisgo, commenting onÂ The Rice Village Plans To Remake Amherst St., Lure Shoppers Into an Alley] Photo of Rice Village parking meters:Â Matthew Landry

Comments, Parking Meters, Rice-Village

05/10/17 11:30am

The Rice Village Plans To Remake Amherst St., Lure Shoppers Into an Alley

by Christine Gerbode

Redevelopment, Renovations, Restaurants, Retail, Rice Village

5 Comments

Remodeling along the lines of what’s depicted here is now underwayÂ on Amherst St. between Kelvin St. and Kirby Dr., according to aÂ Rice Village District rep. A couple of newly released drawings shown here fill inÂ details to some of the previously mentioned changes planned forÂ the south side of Amherst, including the conversion of part of the roadway itself intoÂ more walking and sitting room behind some protective planters. And that narrow passageway in the building, running between Amherst and University Blvd., appears to be gettingÂ its own signage labeling it as The AlleyÂ (complete with light-up arrow directing shoppers inside).

The plans also call for some rooftop greeneryÂ and the chopping off of some pointy brick pediments —Â a swap which the District says will make all that 2-hours-free rooftop parking more visible, in the wake of theÂ recent parking scheme changes: