Tag: Montrose

Demolitions, Lancaster Place, Montrose

13 Comments

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: â€œWeâ€™re going to try to create something really beautiful,” he’s told the Houston Chronicle’s Nancy Sarnoff.

Previously on Swamplot: Scenes from the Dunlavy Fiesta Farewell Shopping Experience, Montrose Fiesta on Dunlavy Will Close Forever in Less Than a Month, Montrose Fiesta Building Owners: That Variance Is for Future Generations, The Montrose Fiesta Is Over: Here Comes Lancaster Square, West Ave-Style Apartments and Retail Planned for Dunlavy Fiesta Site?, Dunlavy and West Alabama: The Fiesta Antiques District

Photo: Loves swamplot

77098, Apartments, Demolitions, Grocery Stores, H-E-B Montrose Market, Lancaster Place, Montrose, Proposed Developments

Homes for Sale

03/18/13 3:00pm

Inside a Storied Montrose Timber Frame

by CALwords

Interiors, Mixed Use, Montrose

6 Comments

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.

77006, Art Galleries, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Hyde Park Heights, Interiors, Lawsuits, Mixed Use, Montrose

Comments

03/11/13 2:00pm

Comment of the Day: If You’re Still Stuck on Cafe Artiste

by Swamplot

Montrose, Quicklink, Retail

COMMENT OF THE DAY: IF YOU’RE STILL STUCK ON CAFE ARTISTE “I used to work at (for a year) and frequent (10+ years) CafÃ© Artiste. Bill — the coffee you miss is Southern Pecan by Lola Savannah. You may find it at Central Market or can order it from their website (now renamed Texas Pecan). It actually had real slivers of pecan in it.Â Artiste was a great place to hang out but it never did well financially aside from weekend breakfast rushes. When they had to furlough everyone just to afford getting the AC fixed (which is like life support in Houston), it was the warning sign the end was near. I would assume Black Hole coffee, just blocks away, is the spiritual successor and it seems much better run/organized. Iâ€™ve since moved on in life and out of Montrose, but will always have special memories of Artiste.” [SL, commenting on West Main Standalone Now Available for Next Restaurant]

77006, Cafes, Comments, Houston History, Montrose, Retail

Buildings for Lease

03/05/13 10:00am

West Main Standalone Now Available for Next Restaurant

Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Signage

11 Comments

This corner at Mandell and West Main near Richmond and the Menil Collection has lost another tenant;Â Sophia bowed out of the freestanding brick building at the end of February. It was back in 2008Â when Sophia’s predecessor CafÃ© Artiste kept this “closed today” sign posted in the window for an entire month, receiving yourÂ 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.

Casual Dining in the Neighborhood [Sophia Houston]
Guerrero Moving Alma to Montrose; Sophia Shuttered [Eater Houston]
Previously on Swamplot: â€œDude, What Gives?â€: Cafe Artisteâ€™s Disappearing Act

Photos: Jack McBride (Sophia); Flickr user DrPantzo [license]

77006, Buildings for Lease, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Signage

Home Decor

02/26/13 10:30am

Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Support

by Swamplot

Homes for Sale, Interiors, Montrose

11 Comments

616 Hawthorne St. [HAR]

77006, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Montrose

Maps

02/22/13 3:00pm

Guy on Bike Will Bring You Things Inside the Loop — Just Send a Text

Midtown, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail, Streets

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 willÂ pedal to your place almost anything — except dry cleaning, pets, and “illicit substances.” This map shows hisÂ service area, extending west out to the Loop and east to Lockwood.

Bicycles, Maps, Midtown, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail, Streets

Buying and Selling

02/13/13 9:30am

Admiral Linen Leaving Montrose Location for Northwest Houston?

Commercial Real Estate, Industrial Properties, Office Buildings, Spring Branch

Will the recent purchase, a reader wants to know, of aÂ 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.

77055, 77098, Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Industrial Buildings, Montrose, Spring-Branch

Apartments

02/12/13 4:15pm

Fairmont Museum District Adding Phase II, Filling Up That Gap On Richmond

Montrose, New Constructon, Proposed Developments

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.Â 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.

The Fine Art of City Living [Fairmont Museum District]

Photos: Allyn West

77006, Apartments, Montrose, New Construction, Proposed Developments

Graffiti

02/11/13 4:00pm

Some Happy Guerilla Architectural Disagreement in Montrose, Ya’ll

Montrose, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Signage, Townhomes

94 Comments

Quite a few of you have sent in similar photos of this befaced sign at Hyde Park and Waugh for Urban Living’s proposedÂ Hyde Park Maison — that’s French for a 4-story, 3-bedroom townhouse. According to the development company’s website there will be five suchÂ maisons, ranging from $589,000 to $689,000, squeezed onto the corner lot bound by Waugh, Hyde Park, Fairview, and Upas, just north of Westheimer. Want to see them without theÂ commentary?

77006, Graffiti, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Signage, Townhomes

Buying and Selling

02/06/13 9:30am

Taking A Few More Shots at Houston’s LBJ House

Historic Districts, Home Repairs, Homes for Sale, Houston History, Interiors, Price Trends, Renovations, Westmoreland Historic District

19 Comments

LBJ wuz here: Built in 1904, this 3,161-sq.-ft. home on the corner of Hawthorne and Garrott in the Westmoreland Historic District gave the future president a place to crash in 1931 when he was teaching public speaking and coaching the debate team at Sam Houston High School.

In March 2011, the house was put on the market for the first time in 90 years; the price climbed to almost $619,000 that June. It sat for a year, going for just under $285,000.Â Renovations began that summer. And the houseÂ returned 9 days ago with a new MLS number, new photos, and a newÂ historically low — for this place, anyway —Â price: $569,900.

77006, Homes for Sale, Houston History, Interiors, Listings, Montrose, Renovations, Westmoreland Historic District

Homes for Sale

01/25/13 1:45pm

Leaving the Lights On in a $2 Million Montrose Manor

Interiors, Montrose, Renovations

27 Comments

Dating to 1913, this very white Colonial has been given extensive renovations both inside and out that have lent the place a certain glow. Listed earlier this week atÂ $1.95 million, the 5,700-sq.-ft. home stands in Montrose at the corner of Sul Ross and Brandt, providing highwayside views of U.S. 59.

77006, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Listings, Montrose, Renovations

Attractions

01/24/13 10:00am

A Montrose Mary’s Memorial, Maybe

Houston History, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Public Art, Restaurants, Signage

23 Comments

At a Neartown meeting two days ago, Kirk Baxter presented these two drawings for a Mary’s memorial, according to aÂ HAIF poster, celebrating the 30-year heyday of the Westheimer bar for Montrose’s gay community. Some 300 memorial services were held here over the years. Mary’s was closed in 2009; the building where it sat since the early ’70sÂ opened this weekend as the coffee shop Blacksmith.

The drawings show a kind of replica Mary’s installed near Waugh and Hyde Park; two of Mary’s original doors — donated to the project by Blacksmith owner Bobby Heugel — would sit underneath tiles reclaimed from the original roof.

Nothing about the memorial has been approved or decided yet, says the HAIF poster. During the meeting several other potential locations were brought up: a spot behind the original building the regulars called the Out Back, and across the street, facing the building, in front of Half Price Books.

A Memorial in Montrose for Mary’s [HAIF]
Previously on Swamplot: Blacksmith Now Serving Coffee In Former Montrose Leather Bar, Restored Maryâ€™s Mural on Westheimer Painted Over Again

Photos: HAIF user trymahjong

77006, Bars, Houston History, Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Public Art, Restaurants

Lower Westheimer

01/22/13 11:15am

Blacksmith Now Serving Coffee In Former Montrose Leather Bar

Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail

9 Comments

The plastic hasn’t even been peeled away from the awning, but Blacksmith is open as of yesterday morning. Headed up by Greenway Coffee & Tea’s David Buehrer, the coffee shop is operating out of the popular leather bar Mary’s old building at 1022 Westheimer. A block west of Montrose Blvd., Blacksmith is Lower Westheimer’s second coffee shop to open in the last few months — Southside Espresso went in next to Uchi at the end of October.

77006, Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail

Adaptive Reuse

01/15/13 12:40pm

Montrose: Where the Weird Things Are