Armed with your suggestions, roving Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia set out to document the smallest freestanding commercial buildings in Houston she could find. And here are the results! Above, “The Spot” hair salon at 1207 Westheimer in Montrose, at the corner of Commonwealth.
More tiny:
This string of antique-store buildings on West Alabama just east of Shepherd has been on the market since last fall. Swamplot noted the Brian Stringer Antiques 40-percent-off going-out-of-business sale in December, but the 25-percent-off sale on the buildings began only last month, after a second price reduction. The bungalow, showroom, and 2-story warehouse on the 14,004-sq.-ft. lot are now priced at $1,099,000. The listing notes the store and its inventory are also for sale “for additional consideration.”
“Everyone in Houston knows the shopping ritual here,” explained ritual antique shopper Joni Webb last year. “You go [through] the main showroom first, work your way to the back storeroom, stop at the side showroom, then exit through the metal garage door to go outside where you then enter the little French house through its side door.”
Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:
Not sure the “answers” readers provided for this week’s Street Sleuths feature were satisfying enough to merit a summary post, but it’s nice at least to have another excuse to run Jason Tinder’s dramatic photo showing the end of the Komart Marketplace. Here’s what we, uh, “learned”:
I also understand that they own the center on the other side of Kingsride from the professional building on the South side of 10 and have not been renewing leases.
In this photo, the Death Star surveys its vanquished foe:
THE METRO LAND COMMISSION DEAL Real estate brokerage firm McDade Smith Gould Johnston Mason + Co. is slated to earn as much as $7 million in consulting fees and commissions from land transactions related to the construction of 5 new rail lines, the West University Examiner‘s Michael Reed reports. Last year’s hiring of Kristen M. McDade as associate vice president of real estate services means 2 out of Metro’s 7 real estate division employees are also McDade Smith brokers. The 3-year deal approved by the outgoing Metro board last December outlines that payments are to be made “even though the land to be used has already been predetermined by the route and could be taken through eminent domain, if need be,” Reed explains: “As stated in the contract, ‘Consultant (McDade Smith) shall receive commissions on every transaction closed by Metro, including but not limited to all right of way acquisitions, calculated on the basis of 6 percent of the “sales price.‒ Metro, however, receives a credit of rebate equal to 40 percent of that payment, according to the contract. Since, legally, a buyer — in this case, Metro — cannot force a seller to pay commissions to a broker, Metro’s true price for land acquisition for five lines, including the University route, would likely be bumped up by $6.25 million in buyer paid commissions as well.” [West University Examiner]
Got an answer to any of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE UCHI HOUSTON PARKING PLAN “They have the whole 40,000 sf under contract, which includes the Prive building and the 12,000 sf lot across the street. The Prive building probably wont be leased to a bar or restaurant, thus freeing up more parking for the peak hours.” [Adam Brackman, commenting on Montrose Uchi To Be an Uchi; No Plans To Crush Felix]
A longtime fan of Upper Kirby restaurant Mai Thai sadly informs us that the 21-year-old pink-trimmed restaurant at the northern end of the 59-Kirby restaurant ghetto will close on June 26th. The landlord has reportedly told owner Mary Le that the lease will not be renewed. Did that little “For Sale” sign on the corner of the building — advertising a 10,000-sq.-ft. lot at the corner of Kirby and Algerian Way — work its magic? Our source tells us Mai Thai will not be reopening, and that everything inside the restaurant is for sale. The inevitable development rumor: a new “high rise complex” is planned for the property, with construction beginning in August.
Is this all true . . . or just a clever plot to drum up a rush of Pad Thai orders? Writes our source: “The food is delicious. I’d urge you, if you’re a fan or if you’re never been before… make a point to go sometime in the next week.”
Photo of Mai Thai Restaurant, 3819 Kirby Dr.: Swamplot inbox
Everybody out by the end of October, the owners of the Village Plaza Shopping Center have told all remaining tenants. Fuzzy’s Pizza and City Dance Studio, of course, are long gone from the center at 5925 Kirby, a block north of Rice Blvd. The Bike Barn has already picked out more than 10,000 sq. ft. in the former Hollywood Video in Weslayan Plaza, at Bissonnet and Weslayan. Kids Kuts will cut south to Bellaire and Stella Link; the UPS Store is looking at a new place “on Bissonnet.” Ticket Stop and Susan Nail & Facial are hunting for space nearby. Mattress Giant just doesn’t want to talk about it.
The property’s owner is its eastern neighbor, the Children’s Assessment Center. A planned expansion to the John M. O’Quinn campus, which now faces Bolsover, would eat the deeper chunk of the shopping center, leaving 0.8 acres on Kirby for somebody else to develop. Here’s the part that’s toast:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: 104-ACRE VACANT FORMER ASTROWORLD SITE IS A DEVELOPER’S DREAM “Can’t wait to see the giant box rolled in and opened to reveal a strip center with: 1) Starbucks on the corner 2) Bed, Bath & Beyond 3) Borders|Barnes and Noble (choose one) 4) High-end Dentistry office not covered under any mere mortal’s dental plan 5) Wine bar 6) $6 ice cream place 7) vitamin/supplement retailer 8) standard set of strip center restaurants (Chinese, Italian, Tex-Mex deli, etc.) 9) if the place is classy enough, may graduate to having Next Tier of ethnic-themed restaurants (Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Greek, etc.) 10) Starbucks on the opposite corner” [SL, commenting on Fort Worth Developer Buys Himself an Empty AstroWorld]
The 104-acre site of the former AstroWorld amusement park has a new owner: the Mallick Group, a development company out of Fort Worth. But unlike the previous owners, Conroe’s Angel/McIver Interests, Michael Mallick doesn’t appear to have a grand vision for the long-vacant lot. He tells Wall Street Journal reporter Kris Hudson that his company is looking into building “a number of things” on the site — perhaps medical facilities, offices, or apartments.
Angel/McIver bought the property from Six Flags in 2005, shortly after the amusement park across the freeway from the Astrodome parking lot was torn down.
Photo: Click2Houston
Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:
Some fine sleuthing and rumor-mongering by Swamplot readers this week! Here’s what you dug up about the 2 properties in question:
The location currently going up on the CostCo pad site is an Iberia Bank ground lease. The property located at Richmond and Weslayan is owned by BBVA Compass, which operates the drive thru behind it and will eventually build a location there.
What about that Heights church building?
The orange Spanish Colonial-style house that famously fronts the I-10 west onramp from I-45 south is now available for lease. The address is 1215 Wrightwood, adjacent to Woodland Park. Reports our cameraphone-wielding correspondent:
Nonrestricted commercial. Comes complete with I-45 freeway frontage, double lot, two flagpoles, windmill, Adickes banana, colossal concrete rooster, and giant cross.
The “patriotic paint job” on the David Adickes banana sculpture “was created in honor of the Super Bowl here a few years back,” our correspondent notes.
Another view:
COMMERCIAL BREAK The dollar volume of Houston-area commercial property sales for the 12 months through March was $2.36 billion, almost exactly half the figure for the previous 12-month period, reports LoopNet: “In the Houston office market, only $830 million worth of deals closed in the period ending in March 2010 compared to $1.37 billion a year earlier, while the price per square foot dropped to an average of $110 compared to $172 a year earlier. The square footage price in the Houston retail market has dropped the most precipitously, down to $69 in the most recent period from $143 a square foot for the year ending March 2009.” [Houston Business Journal]
OUR KIND OF TOWN, CHICAGO IS 
United Airlines buys Continental, decides to stay home: “Chicago will be the new headquarters, which is already causing a stir in Continental’s home in Houston. Smisek was asked on the call this morning why would the new airline be centered in the windy city when Houston has a ‘lower cost of living,’ and a ‘better business environment’ Smisek said simply that the only way the deal would get done is if Chicago became the headquarters and emphasized the importance of O’Hare airport as a vital hub.” [Deal Journal]
Courtesy of Planning and Development Dept. public affairs manager Suzy Hartgrove, Swamplot now has a copy of the variance application submitted by the new owners of the vacant 7.68-acre site at the southwest corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy — where H-E-B has announced plans to build a new Montrose grocery store. At the property’s western border, Sul Ross and Branard streets used to lead directly into driveway entrances to the Wilshire Village apartments on the site. Under current development regulations, those streets would have to be connected to other streets (or perhaps each other) or turned into proper cul-de-sacs.
The variance would allow the property’s new owners to bypass this requirement and leave Sul Ross and Branard as they are — minus the driveway access.
Oh — the property’s new owners! Who are they?
