Tag: River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

Historic Preservation, Montrose, Quicklink, Renovations, Retail

8 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THERE’S MORE MONEY IN HISTORY “First of all, this really doesnâ€™t make much difference, as the original art moderne lines of this center were destroyed several years ago with the addition of gun turrets on the corners of the buildings. What I do find interesting is that Weingarten talks about the alterations as being financially responsible decisions to their shareholders. Yet this is the 3rd oldest intact shopping center in the US, and the only two that predate it, AFAIK, are Highland Park Village in Dallas and Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. Both of those have owners that have restored them to essentially their original designs and have enjoyed much increased property values. In the case of Highland Park Village, Henry S Miller (a Dallas developer) bought HP Village in the later â€™70â€™s as it was very run down and dumpy, and had the foresight to restore its original Spanish Colonial design and garner a better tenant mix. Though his company no longer owns it, HP Village commands far higher square foot rents than River Oaks Shopping Center. All this is to say that if Weingarten had invested money in restoring their property 10-15 years ago, they probably would have a more valuable asset today.” [ShadyHeightster, commenting on The Other River Oaks Shopping Center Knockdown Hearing Scheduled for This Week] Rendering of proposed alterations to River Oaks Shopping Center, 1997 West Gray St.: Aria Group Architects for Weingarten Realty Investors

77019, Comments, Historic Preservation, Montrose, Renovations, Retail, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

06/14/17 11:15am

The Other River Oaks Shopping Center Knockdown Hearing Scheduled for This Week

Houston Landmarks, Montrose, Renovations, Shopping Centers

17 Comments

Across and a little bit down the street from the site where the company proposes to tear down an already altered section of the River Oaks Shopping Center and erect a 29-story apartment tower with 2 floors of underground parking, Weingarten Realty has more plans to make changes to the landmark art deco center. At the corner of West Gray and McDuffie, the company wants to tear down the 2-story western end of the south half of the 1948 section of the shopping center — which now houses a California Pizza Kitchen and the remains of the Evolve Fitness Studio upstairs (and was previously the site of a Birraporetti’s with Sherlock’s Pub above it) — and reconstruct the section as a 12,730-sq.-ft. Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille with significantly taller first and second stories.

The design, by Chicago’s Aria Group Architects, “will maintain historical features” of the building at 1997 West Gray St., the submitted plans (PDF) explain. But not exactly in the same order. Stick-on stone facing was stuck onto lower portions of this section of the art deco structure in 2007 when it was given a new stucco-batter coating and turned into a CPK; the new design shows a tallÂ curved panel of limestone wrapping the corner, but this timeÂ on the higher second floor, suspended above a rebuilt portion of the center’s signature curved soffit.

Raising Perry’s Steakhouse

77019, Houston Landmarks, Montrose, Renovations, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

06/13/17 4:30pm

Here’s That 29-Story Apartment Tower Weingarten Wants To Tag Onto the End of the River Oaks Shopping Center, and Where You Can Complain About It If You Don’t Like It

Highrises, Houston Landmarks, Proposed Developments, Shopping Centers

23 Comments

In advance of a public hearing scheduled for this Thursday, Weingarten Realty has submitted these drawings of the 29-story apartment tower it’s calling the Driscoll, and which it’s proposing to build across the from the northern end of Driscoll St. The site at 1958 W. Gray also happens to be occupied currently by the eastern end of the 69-year-old northern portion of the River Oaks Shopping Center, which has city historic landmark status despite the numerous inconsistent alterations Weingarten has made to the Art Deco complex over the years. As suggested by the included diagram above, the tower will knock out most of one wing of the complex, leaving Brasserie 19 in place, but deleting 18,000 sq. ft. of space currently housing CafÃ© Ginger, Local Pour, and some office space above — as well as 2-and-a-half bays of parking to the east.

As part of its package for the required hearing before the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission, Weingarten presented this photographic evidence in support of its claim that its existing property, which it altered significantly during renovations conducted in 2011, is in a “deteriorated state“:

77019, Highrises, Houston Landmarks, Proposed Developments, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

Here Comes the Driscoll

03/01/17 3:45pm

Luke’s Locker Mostly Cleaned Out in River Oaks Shopping Center

by Katie Schon

River Oaks

2 Comments

Former Luke's Locker at 1953 W. Gray St., River Oaks Shopping Center, Houston, 77019

It may not come as much of a surprise to the city’s more meticulous athletics outlet trackers that the Lukeâ€™s Locker at the corner ofÂ W. Gray and Driscoll streetsÂ has taken off: on January 20 theÂ Texas chain announced via Facebook that they would be temporarily closing their Houston store, among others;Â a follow-up post a few days later clarified that the company had filed for Chapter 11.Â As of late last week, the name markers were coming down from the storeâ€™s exterior, a couple ofÂ â€œFor Leaseâ€ signs were up, and the space had been emptied out.

The company still lists 1953 W. Gray address as a store location, complete with an image of the shop wrapped up in a bygone eraÂ of River Oaks Shopping Center aesthetics, when everything was more black-and-white:

77019, Commercial Buildings for Lease, Retail, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

Run Off on W. Gray

Comments

02/27/17 1:15pm

Comment of the Day: On Having Your Art Deco Strip Center and Eating It, Too

by Christine Gerbode

Quicklink

14 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: ON HAVING YOUR ART DECO STRIP CENTER AND EATING IT, TOO â€œ’Everybody wants walkability, but nobody wants density’ is the urban-planning equivalent of ‘everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.’â€ [Angostura, commenting on Where Weingarten Plans To Stab That 30-Story Residential Highrise into the River Oaks Shopping Center] Site planÂ of future highrise development: Weingarten Realty

Comments, Historic Preservation, Proposed Developments, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

02/23/17 5:30pm

CafÃ© Ginger To Move Into Mama Fu’s Place Some Time Before the Highrising Starts

by Katie Schon

River Oaks

4 Comments

Cafe Ginger, 1952 W. Gray St., River Oaks Shopping Center, Houston, 77019

What with that Â 30-ish-story tower planned for on top of them, the businesses at the far end of the River Oaks Shopping Center (including CafÃ© Ginger, the King Ranch Saddle Shop, and Local Pour)Â now appear to haveÂ an ambiguous expiration date on their current locations. CafÃ© Ginger has already found a new place to crash when the time comes: staff at the restaurant confirmed today that they’ll be moving justÂ a few blocks downÂ W.Â Gray St. to River Oaks Plaza, which hosts Marshall’s, T.J. Maxx, and Office Max in some of its bigger boxes. The move probably won’t happen until next year, but restaurant’s name is already included inÂ the leasing flierÂ for the center (as is theÂ new Carterâ€™s Babies & Kids scheduled to open in the complexÂ at the end of March).

CafÃ© Ginger is shown filling in the pair ofÂ retail spots on the strip mall cornerÂ near Dunlavy St. that previously housed Austin pan-Asian chainÂ Mama Fuâ€™sÂ and Austin Mediterranean chainÂ VERTS Kebap:

77019, Commercial Leases, Demolition, Proposed Developments, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

River Oaks Shopping Around

02/23/17 1:15pm

Where Weingarten Plans To Stab That 30-Story Residential Highrise into the River Oaks Shopping Center

by Christine Gerbode

River Oaks

16 Comments

River Oaks Shopping Center highrise plan, Houston, 77019

What else mightÂ change asÂ Weingarten plants theÂ 30-ish story residential towerÂ it announced yesterdayÂ on aÂ spot currently occupied by a few of theÂ River Oaks Shopping Center’s northeastern storefronts? SpecificsÂ on the design of the 300-plus-unit project (which the company hinted at in late 2015)Â are still scant, thoughÂ construction may start as soon asÂ next year. The planned footprint of theÂ highrise, per the site map above, stomps out the far end of the building housingÂ Cafe Ginger, Local Pour, and the King Ranch Saddle Shop, spreading outÂ past the edge of the non-protected city historical landmarkÂ toward the would-be alignmentÂ of Driscoll St.Â TheÂ Hanover-developed towerÂ will reportedlyÂ replace those storefronts with someÂ 10,000 sq. ft. of retail space on its ground floor (leaving room, potentially, for aÂ few more Starbucks).

77019, Highrises, Proposed Developments, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

High Hopes on W. Gray

Quicklink

12/21/15 11:30am

You May Yet Have Your Chance to Live On Top of the Sur La Table by the River Oaks Theater

by Christine Gerbode

5 Comments

YOU MAY YET HAVE YOUR CHANCE TO LIVE ON TOP OF THE SUR LA TABLE BY THE RIVER OAKS THEATER Senior Leasing VP Gerald Crump of Weingarten Realty Investors told Nancy Sarnoff of the Chronicle last week that even bigger changes are likely on their way to the River Oaks Shopping Center section on the north side of W. Gray between McDuffie and Driscoll, currently housing Sur La Table, Brasserie 19, and Cafe Ginger, among others (shown here from above, facing a distant Kroger’s). Still-nebulous plans for revamping the space include incorporating residential units, more retail or more parking. Any changes to the center, which is designated a historic landmark by the City, would need the nominal thumbs-up of the Houston Architectural and Historic Commission — though need for that approval can be bypassed by letting a 90-day waiting period expire, David Bush of Preservation Houston told Sarnoff. Crump says that the company will work to communicate plans to the surrounding community as they develop, but also tells Sarnoff that “as an owner and developer, you have to remain relevant”. The redo, whatever shape it eventually takes, could take that shape as early as 2019. [Houston Chronicle, previously on Swamplot] Photo: bjoelio via Swamplot Flickr pool

77019, Development Strategies, Historic Preservation, Redevelopment, Renovations, Retail, River Oaks, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center, Weingarten Realty

Houston History

10/10/14 10:30am

River Oaks and Highland Park: Separated at Birth?

Quicklink, River Oaks

11 Comments

RIVER OAKS AND HIGHLAND PARK: SEPARATED AT BIRTH? Highland Park and River Oaks, by Cheryl Caldwell Ferguson They each contain some of their city’s most expensive homes, and gave their name to classic (well, in one instance used-to-be-classic) 1930s shopping centers. But just how comparable are Dallas’s Highland Park and Houston’s River Oaks? Cheryl Caldwell Ferguson’s new book — bearing the complicated title Highland Park and River Oaks — delves into the history of the 2 garden-style suburbs and their associated retail ventures, as well as their connections to larger city-planning efforts that flopped. [UT Press; Amazon]

77019, Books, Houston History, River Oaks, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

Bars and Clubs

05/30/14 12:45pm

The Folks Operating the New Marfreless Are a Bunch of Posers, Say the Folks Who Used To Run the Bar

Lawsuits, Leasing, Vermont Commons

3 Comments

Marfreless, 2006 Peden St., River Oaks Shopping Center, Houston The former operators of Marfreless — the oh-so-dark bar that hid behind the unmarked blue door under the stairs in back of the River Oaks Shopping Center for more than a decade until shutting down in the middle of last year — filed a lawsuit earlier this month against the group that later renovated the space and opened a bar of the same name inside it in January of this year. In essence, the suit claims that the bar’s current operators are imposters, and are using the Marfreless name in its former leased location — and claiming to have reopened it — without permission. â€œMarfreless was temporarily closed in March of 2013, when it transitioned to new ownership, the third in its distinguished lifetime,â€ reads the new Marfreless website, created by the bar’s current operators. But the lawsuit claims that isn’t true. “Despite these representations by Defendant,” reads a filing by Marfreless Ventures, LP, “no such ownership transition has ever taken place.”

The Lawsuit Behind the Bar

77019, Bars and Clubs, Lawsuits, Leasing, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center, Vermont Commons

Parking

05/12/14 11:30am

The River Oaks Shopping Center’s New Parking Meters

77019, Parking, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

Quicklink, Retail, Vermont Commons

20 Comments

THE RIVER OAKS SHOPPING CENTER’S NEW PARKING METERS Parking Meter at Peden St. at McDuffie St., River Oaks Shopping Center, Houston Hooded, solar-powered parking overseers have arrived on streets surrounding the River Oaks Shopping Center on West Gray St., reader James Glassman notes. Here’s a photo of a meter dressed in a blue cape, awaiting orders to undress on Peden St. at McDuffie. [Previously on Swamplot]Â Photo: James Glassman

Bars and Clubs

01/06/14 10:00am

What’s Been Happening at Marfreless, and When It’ll Reopen

77019, Bars and Clubs, Openings and Closings, Renovations, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

Montrose, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Renovations

2 Comments

Marfreless, 2006 Peden St., River Oaks Shopping Center, Houston The new owners of Marfreless have updated the website of theÂ shuttered River Oaks Shopping CenterÂ bar to indicate that it plans on reopening in January. Which makes sense, since the previously promised summer 2013 re-launch date for the 2006 Peden St. location has come and gone. A comment appended back in December to a Facebook photo album showing renovationsÂ of the signless institution’s famed dimly lit interior provides an actual opening date: “probably” January 17th. What delights await inside? A unisex restroom with 2 stalls, chandeliers, plus newÂ VIP areas carved out of what were previously storage rooms: “There will be curtains upstairs that you can pull closed for privacy or open for groups. Or . . . pull closed for groups, if that’s what you’re into.” The stairs, however, will still offer the “same place to hit your head.”

Marfreless To Reopen January 2014 [Marfreless]
“Make-Out Bar” Marfreless is Expected to Reopen Soon [Eater Houston]
Previously on Swamplot:Â The Return of Marfreless,Â Weingarten Responds: Hey, It’s Not Us, It’s Marfreless,Â The End Coming for Marfreless in River Oaks

Photo: Marfreless

Behind the Blue Door

Nightlife

06/17/13 10:00am

The Return of Marfreless

by Allyn West

Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Renovations, River Oaks, Shopping Centers

4 Comments

THE RETURN OF MARFRELESS It was only temporary, it turns out, theÂ closing of Houston’s infamous den of PDA: Though reports in March suggested that River Oaks Shopping Center landlords Weingarten had hiked the rent, described cheekily in a press release byÂ Marfreless as “the rising cost of doing business,” it appears that the bar that looks the other way has found new owners and will reopen with the same management in the same spot this summer — and they’ll be fixing up the place, too, they’ve announced in a press release that’s fairly dripping with innuendo: “All this comes with a complete renovation — from wires and carpet to the furniture you . . . sit on. You can expect an updated feel with the same Marfreless experience youâ€™ve come to love. And donâ€™t worry, our upstairs seating and iconic blue door will remain.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Flickr user jmcgeough

77019, Bars and Clubs, Openings and Closings, Renovations, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

Apartments

04/12/13 2:30pm

Comment of the Day: The River Oaks Shopping Center’s Coming Double Mocha Latte Problem