04/11/16 5:00pm

Raven Tower Bar, 301 North St., Northside, Houston, 77009

Raven Tower Bar, 301 North St., Northside, Houston, 77009

The bluest bar-on-a-stick in town gives a 360-degree overview of the area around White Oak Music Hall, which held its first concert Saturday on a temporary stage next to the still-under-construction main building. Renderings released last year for the concert complex, next to the already-in-action Raven Tower at the crossing of I-45 and Little White Oak Bayou (above), showed plans for 2 indoor stages and a 3rd outdoor pavilion, with a 3,000-person events lawn between. Developer Will Garwood told the Houston Chronicle last week that while he would still like to add a permanent stage someday, the temporary stage would be getting reused in the meanwhile — possibly requiring special event permits (like the one issued for Saturday’s concert) multiple times each month.

Here’s what the scene looked like on Wednesday evening, as crews continued working past sundown to get everything in line for the weekend:

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Hatching in Near Northside
04/11/16 10:45am

Conservatory Underground Beer Garden & Food Fall, 1010 Prairie, Downtown, Houston, 77002

This latest report over the wireless from Swamplot’s regular tunnel correspondent comes from a brief venture into nearby subterranean territory this weekend to scope out Conservatory Underground Beer Garden & Food Hall. The basement bar and restaurant collection sits in the former Isis Theater building on Prairie  St., just east of sister-facility Prohibition and Main St.-facing Moonshiner’s Southern Table + Bar. Several of the Conservatory’s restaurant tenants spent last week quietly testing out their setups on diners during limited hours; the shots and commentary below come from a Saturday morning jaunt through the venue:

The entrance is just east of Prohibition, under an awning sporting the marquee “Conservatory/Underground Beer Garden and Food Hall”. The lobby level has a stairwell leading to the main basement area:

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In the Conservatory With The Knife
04/07/16 12:45pm

Cullen's, 11500 Space Center Blvd, Houston, 77059

The couple behind Cullen’s Upscale American Grille and Whisk(e)y Bar announced yesterday that the Vegas-style restaurant near Ellington Field had shut down, following some hard reflection on the “brevity and uncertainty of life” after the unexpected death of GM Ryan Roberts last August. Sandra and Kevin Munz released a statement on the restaurant’s webpage indicating that the 37,000-sq.-ft. space would be converted into a healthcare facility, starting immediately; the couple says they plan to focus their attention on the business ventures which will “most dramatically enhance the quality of [their] lives,” and to spend more time with their kids.

The choose-your-own-china-pattern restaurant opened in 2008 as a green-certified, 700-seat anchor for Kevin Munz’s Clearpoint Crossing development, which includes retail strips next to residential complex just north on Space Center Blvd. south of Genoa Red Bluff Rd. Much of the rest of the retail center has already gotten on board with the medical theme: the development currently houses the UT Physicians Bayshore Family Practice facilities, Bailey Orthodontics, and Clearpoint Dentistry.

Photo of Cullen’s at 11500 Space Center Blvd.: Jason L. 

Changing Direction at Ellington
04/04/16 12:30pm

Prince's Hamburgers at 3425 Ella Blvd., Garden Oaks/Oak Forest, Houston, 77018

New colors and signs now herald the coming of Prince’s Hamburgers to 3425 Ella Blvd., north of 34th St. between “Wash Me” Car Wash and the Kar Hospital. Prince’s former dominion near 59 at Weslayan is now under the rule of not-quite-an-emergency health clinic MedSpring Urgent Care, though the 1930s restaurant chain still maintains another freewayside outpost in the former Murphy’s Deli spot on I-10 between N. Kirkwood Rd. and Tully St. Prince’s underground holdings Downtown have also been relinquished, along with the diner location on N. Post Oak Blvd.

The newly marked territory on Ella shares its western border with the Waltrip High School track. Across the street from the coming is Ella Plaza, formerly home to yes-that-Swayze Swayze School of Dance and recently worked over by serial redeveloper Braun Enterprises. Looking from the strip center’s parking lot to the south, the Shipley’s donut sign can be spied rising over the horizon, as can the Sunbelt Jewelry & Loan pawn shop’s commanding sign:

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Royal Succession in Garden Oaks
04/01/16 3:30pm

HANCOCK FABRICS FOLDS, PREPARES TO SHUT DOWN ALL STORES Hancock Fabrics at 5867 Bissonnet St., Bellaire, TX 77401Following yesterday’s sale of the company’s assets in bankruptcy court, Hancock Fabrics announced going-out-of-business promotions at all 8 locations in and around Houston, including Conroe, Katy, Clear Lake and Baytown. The Mississippi-born fabric store, which closed some outposts and reorganized under a previous Chapter 11 filing back in 2007, is now liquidating merchandise at all remaining stores nationwide, writes Dennis Seid. The company opened in 1957; as for how long the final sales will stretch out, an associate at the Gulfton store says that employees aren’t sure —  “It could be July, it could be tomorrow.” [BizBuzz] Photo of Hancock Fabrics at 5867 Bissonnet St.: Edgar V.

03/29/16 2:45pm

West End Cleaners, 3406 N. Shepherd Dr., Garden Oaks, Houston, 77018

No, says a representative of West End Cleaners who’s been fielding calls this afternoon, the business isn’t shutting down. It’s just departing hastily from its branch location of a few more hours at the remodeled N. Shepherd strip center on 34th St. (in the spot between Pink’s Pizza and the Garden Oaks Veterinary Clinic) due to a rent hike. Plans have already been laid to land near the intersection of Westview Dr. and Silber Rd.; the business is also scouting for a new location in the old neighborhood, near 34th and Ella.

Furthermore, the rep emphasizes strongly that the clothing currently in-house will not be donated in 24 hours, as has been suggested on Facebook; all clothes will be moved over to the new location, and the business’s pickup and delivery service will continue as normal. The original actually-in-West-End location at 4918 Washington Ave is still in service, too out of service as well; the business’s phone system lists it along with additional spots in the Energy Corridor and Cinco Ranch.

Photo: ‎Isela Lopez Venecia

 

 

N. Shepherd Cleanout
03/28/16 1:00pm

Former Tune-Up, 1818 N. Shepherd, Houston Heights, Houston, 77008

A slew of updates from N. Shepherd Dr. come from a nearby dermatology office with a regular lens on the rapidly-redeveloping retail scene. Above is the former site of Tune-Up Plus (on the southeast corner of N. Shepherd with 19th St.) which has been decked out in yellow, lately. A remodeling permit issued on the 23rd for the spot at 1818 N. Shepherd now refers to it as a Take 5; the oil-change and auto-repair chain currently has locations dotted all along I-10 and I-85 between Beaumont and the Blue Ridge Mountains, along with some Dallas locales; the first Houston-area Take 5 is purportedly on its way to Louetta Rd. just east of Steuber-Airline Dr. up in Spring.

Meanwhile, across N. Shepherd, the former Houston Alternator store that’s been getting the restaurant-retail treatment is almost ready to open as Cane Rosso’s first Houston spot, ahead of its also-under-construction Montrose branch:

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Heights Retail Replacements
03/25/16 10:30am

Lamar Tunnel Walkthrough, Downtown, Houston, 77002

Lamar Tunnel Walkthrough, Downtown, Houston, 77002

Here’s a fresh dispatch from Swamplot’s regular anonymous tunnel correspondent, who sends this photo-heavy update on the state of the Lamar Tunnel beneath the site of the former downtown Foley’s-turned-Macy’s building:

“The old tunnel to Macy’s from 1000 Main is now back open again. Despite what the sign says, it no longer leads to a department store — instead, you round a corner into the lower level of 1111 Travis, Hilcorp’s new (future?) headquarters: CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

News from the Underground
03/24/16 1:00pm

Starbucks, 5540 Richmond Ave, Galleria Area, Houston, 77056

Rising in this photo, from left to right: the back-t0-searching Williams Tower, the 30-story Mercer condo building, and the vertical sign for the new Starbucks that opened yesterday morning at the northeast corner of Richmond Ave. and Chimney Rock Rd. The freestanding coffee shop at 5540 Richmond (next to the spot previously occupied by now-demolished Taco Cabana) is right across the street from the freestanding former Starbucks no longer listed on the company’s website at 5549 Richmond, between wine-themed Pinot’s Palette and probably-not-intentionally-wine-themed Night Train Luggage.

The store is a 4-minute drive from the Starbucks-turned-Minuti on the corner of Fountainview Dr. and Westheimer Rd., and just a 3-minute drive from the new AT&T-adjacent Starbucks on S. Rice Ave. south of 59, at the edge of the Walmart Supercenter parking lot next to relocated MicroCenter. Folks who want to get their coffee and split can head east to the drive-through lane; folks looking to stick around can hang out inside, out front, or on the semi-sheltered side patio which will eventually be partially screened with greenery, if the planter plants follow the plan:

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Coffee’s Back On
03/22/16 5:00pm

Tout Suite, Memorial City Mall, 303 Memorial City Way, Houston, TX 77024

Tout Suite, Memorial City Mall, 303 Memorial City Way, Houston, TX 77024A reader notes the logo of freeway-side cafe Tout Suite making an appearance over at Memorial City Mall, smack in the middle of the path leading north-to-south from Target to Sears. The first Tout Suite opened in early 2014 in the former nightclub, warehouse and auto dealership at 2001 Commerce St. just east of the 59 overpass; the same folks also started pastry shop Sweet in CityCentre several years prior.

Signage hints at an opening later this spring for the new spot, in the pedestrian crossroads by Kay Jewelers and Ice Skate USA at the western end of the mall (visible in the top photo). The spot is just down the hall from the freestanding Starbucks kiosk, which sits along mall’s east-west axis between Macy’s and JCPenney. Here’s a more southward facing shot of the Suite spot, looking toward the Sears entrance:

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Finding The Suite Spot
03/22/16 12:45pm

Ruggles Green Alabma, 2305 W. Alabama St., Upper Kirby, Houston, 77098

Here’s a peek at the new space of Ruggles Green, back open this week at 2305 W. Alabama St. next door to the restaurant’s original shopping center spot by Persona Medical Spa. Ruggles announced the move out of the westernmost suite of 2311 W. Alabama at the end of 2014, and the doors closed on New Year’s Day. The restaurant has now reopened in the street-facing ground floor retail space at the northeastern corner of the 5-story Gables Upper Kirby apartment midrise, which opened across W. Alabama from the less-dense Gables Waterford Square complex last year.

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Sprouting Next Door
03/16/16 11:30am

Wells Fargo Plaza Tunnel Entrance, 1000 Louisiana St., Downtown, Houston, 77002

A reader sends the following report of openings, closures, swap-outs, and hanging question marks in the Downtown tunnel system’s restaurant landscape:

The Prince’s Hamburgers location at 930 Main St./McKinney Place Garage (and the associated taco establishment next to it whose name escapes me) both closed a couple of weeks ago. The former location of Mediterranean Grill House in the basement of 919 Milam St. is now a Dimassi’s Mediterranean Buffet. What was a Ninfa’s Express window next door still sports a sign stating a Bullrito’s is coming soon, while the restaurant space the sit-down Ninfa’s previously occupied remains vacant, with no indication of what may be coming.

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News From the Underground
03/15/16 10:15am

H-E-B mapped on Washington Ave. by Braun Enterprises

Later update, 2:30pm:  H-E-B’s Cyndy Garza-Roberts tells Swamplot that plans to place a store in the area are only in the discussion phase, and that no agreements have been reached — more here.

Update, 3/16: H-E-B has confirmed to the HBJ that the company has been in talks over a new store on the Archstone property.

A recent flier produced by Braun Enterprises in an effort to lease the former club space at 1815 Washington features a surprising extra: an overlay of the H-E-B logo planted squarely over a map of the not-so-square site of the Archstone Memorial Heights apartments on Washington Ave. between Studemont and Waugh. A 5-acre chunk at the southwest corner of the 1996 apartment complex was cleared out in 2008, then repopulated, then cleared out again in 2012 for redevelopment as the taller, denser Memorial Heights Villages complex (visible just to the right of the word “WAUGH” on the above aerial). CityCentre developer Midway bought the remaining 23.4 acres of apartments with the Lionstone Group at the end of 2014.

Also featured on the aerial: shuttered-over-the-weekend Hughes Hangar, which CultureMap’s Eric Sandler reports has closed along with Paris-minded parking lot companion The De Gaulle. Further east down the corridor is the space Braun is hawking: the former Pandora-turned-Throne nightclub space at 1815 Washington, marked with a star below, across the road from Bovine & Barley B&B Butchers:

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H-E-B Marks the Spot
03/14/16 5:00pm

Hughes Hangar, 2811 Washington Ave., Houston, 77007

Hughes Hangar, 2811 Washington Ave., Houston, 77007Hughes Hangar is finished with the spot at 2811 Washington Ave., behind Affection clothing boutique at the corner with Epstein Ct. The gastropub-nightclub announced on social media on Saturday that “everything is priced at $4.00” and that the business would close for good at the end of the night. The club posted earlier in the week about an electrical fire that knocked out audio and internet systems; posts to the venue’s Twitter and Facebook accounts on Thursday assured customers that the space would be open for the weekend, though the bar would be running cash only until credit card infrastructure was repaired.

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Weekend Getaway
03/10/16 3:30pm

THE FIESTA ON N. SHEPHERD WILL BE SHUT DOWN IN 17 DAYS Fiesta at 2300 N. Shepherd Dr., Houston Heights, Houston, 77008 The Heights branch of parrot-adorned grocery store Fiesta Mart at 2300 N. Shepherd Dr. will be shuttered for good after closing time on March 27th, the store’s assistant manager told Betsy Denson of The Leader. The land has been owned by 2ML Real Estate since mid-2015, but 2ML president Jim Arnold, who’s other company owned the Fiesta until a few years ago, tells Denson it was Fiesta’s choice to bow out. As for the land itself, Arnold has “been approached by someone wanting to put in apartments – but any decision will wait for land studies and surveys. When asked if he’d like to see an H-E-B on the land, Arnold said he wouldn’t rule it out.” [The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Fiesta Mart at 2300 N. Shepherd Dr.: Terah K.