Tag: Openings and Closings

Attractions
01/19/11 1:29pm

Out of the Way, Tiny Soldiers, Here Comes the Grand Parkway: Katy’s Forbidden Gardens Is Closing Down

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Eminent Domain, Katy, Katy Prairie, Museums, Openings and Closings
21 Comments

Segment E of Houston’s new Grand Parkway — more commonly known as the new ring-road highway planned to cut through the Katy Prairie to link the Katy Mills Mall to the Houston Premium Outlets mall in Cypress (and to facilitate cultural exchange programs between those two institutions) — has its first casualty, and it’s not an Attwater prairie chicken. One of Katy’s quirkiest and most beloved attractions, Forbidden Gardens, has announced it will close. The Chinese history and cultural museum’s peculiar but convenient location on a former rice field along Franz Rd. just off the Grand Parkway’s stub end likely wasn’t “just off” enough. Forbidden Gardens’ last day open will be January 30; a note on its website says the closing will “make way for the Grand Parkway expansion.” Forbidden Gardens opened in 1996.

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Copperfield
01/12/11 1:49pm

Cornering the Burger Market

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Franchises and Chain Stores, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants, Sprawl
7 Comments

CORNERING THE BURGER MARKET Helping to balance out the intersection of Highway 6 and West Rd. in Copperfield, currently home to a Wendy’s, a Whataburger, a Chick-fil-A, a Shell station, and 2 banks: Houston’s very first Carl’s Jr. Or the first one here, at least, in about 30 years. The company building the franchise plans to blanket Houston with 40 Carl’s Jr. locations by the end of the decade. Next up: Hwy 6 and S. University Blvd. in Missouri City, and just west of 288 on FM 518 in Pearland. [Cheap Eats in Houston; previously on Swamplot]

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Highland Village
01/10/11 1:41pm

Tootsies Beats Back the Landlord: The Sale Must Go On!

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Lawsuits, Openings and Closings, Shopping Centers
15 Comments

There’s a whole lot more drama to the Highland Village Tootsies shutdown battle than just that little overnight lockout, jackhammered walkway, and side-door goodbye sale customers got to enjoy late last week: The Chron‘s Purva Patel reports Tootsies sought a restraining order against the Highland Village Shopping Center, claiming the center was “interfering with its business.” Oh, but that was only after the landlord began eviction proceedings against the women’s clothing boutique on January 4th, a full 5 days after the long-term lease on its only Houston store expired.

The store paid rent of $159,834 at December’s end, but Highland Village plans to return the money, according to court records. The store plans to send it again.

Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia has pics of the scene in front the store at 4045 Westheimer from Saturday morning, just as workers were beginning to scrape off what sure looks like a fresh coat of black paint from the store’s windows. Oh, but that’s not all the trouble Highland Village CEO Haidar Barbouti‘s merry band of graffiti artists caused for its extended tenant. Painted over, and possibly beyond recovery: those “Tootsies Parking” signs on the curb in front!

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Highland Village
01/07/11 8:05pm

Highland Village Lockout Drama: Step Away from the Tootsies!

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Leasing, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Retail
21 Comments

HIGHLAND VILLAGE LOCKOUT DRAMA: STEP AWAY FROM THE TOOTSIES! What tenant lockout techniques at the Highland Village Shopping Center lack in effectiveness, they make up in chutzpah: Employees and shoppers arriving for the second day of the big sale at Tootsies this morning found the stores’ windows blacked out, the sign blocked, and the concrete path to the front entrance jackhammered and blocked off with cones and temporary fencing. But that’s no obstacle at all for the sale-obsessed: Black-booted employees of the upscale women’s boutique simply ushered shoppers in through a side entrance for deals on dresses, handbags and shoes! Shopping center CEO Haidar Barbouti announced plans last year to demolish the Tootsies building and replace it with 100,000 square feet of multi-level retail space and an underground parking garage. Tootsies’ long-term lease expired on December 31, but the company’s new store at West Ave hasn’t opened yet. Can’t they work something out? A Highland Village spokesperson tells Culturemap that landlord and tenant have not met “in several years.” Bring on the lawyers! [Culturemap]

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Greenway Plaza
01/06/11 11:50am

Oishii’s Parapet Vacation

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Strip Centers
8 Comments

To the reader who wrote in to Swamplot noting that Japanese restaurant Oishii at 3764 Richmond near Greenway Plaza was closed and that a large For Lease sign had been posted in front: Do not worry. Your sushi happy hour is safe. The restaurant is resting temporarily so building surgeons can give a portion of the lowslung structure at the corner of Timmons that raised eyebrow look that’s been all the strip-mall rage since about 1992. The restaurant closed down December 19th, and is scheduled to reopen January 10th.

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Downtown
01/04/11 6:16pm

Books-A-Million at Houston Pavilions: Back from the Dead!

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Leasing, Malls, Openings and Closings, Retail
12 Comments

A source tells Swamplot that “an even sweeter deal” has just been struck between Books-A-Million and the management of Houston Pavilions, and that the bookstore chain has decided that its Downtown Houston store will remain open. “It seems the story has forced the company’s hand,” says the source. Swamplot reported yesterday that Books-A-Million had decided to close its store in the mall at 1201 Main St., even though the company was paying only $3,000 a month for the 2-story, approximately 23,000-sq.-ft. space.

Photo: Flickr user Holcombe of Hidalgo

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Commercial Real Estate
01/03/11 2:34pm

Everybody Out: The Ghost Town at 3400 Montrose

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Mixed Use, Montrose, Office Buildings, Openings and Closings, Public Safety, Retail
18 Comments

A reader tells Swamplot a sticker on the front door of the 10-story mixed-use building at 3400 Montrose notes the building is unsafe and does not have a working fire-alarm system:

They have gated off the garage and also all the first level tenants have now moved out. Any word on what is going on? Is the building being closed up? Torn down?

Renovated?

The building’s highest-profile (and -altitude) tenant, Scott Gertner’s Skybar, moved out over the summer, after complaining that the building’s new owner, a company out of Waco called FH Properties, wasn’t responding to maintenance concerns.

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Downtown
01/03/11 12:46pm

Books-A-Million Bailing out of Houston Pavilions

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Leasing, Malls, Openings and Closings, Retail
16 Comments

Update, 1/4: Reverse! Books-A-Million is gonna stay put.

Southeastern U.S. chain Books-A-Million has decided to close its Downtown Houston store on January 15th. The decision has left management of Houston Pavilions feeling rather put-out: Managers at the downtown mall reportedly had lowered the bookstore’s rent on the 2-story, approximately 23,000-sq.-ft. space facing the light rail line at 1201 Main St. to just $3,000 a month — in hopes the concession would prevent it from shutting down. A source insists the store “wasn’t a huge flop,” but says that the Katy Mills Mall Books-A-Million typically brought in more than 5 times the sales of the Downtown store — even though the 2 locations are about the same size.

Another factor that may have played a role in Books-A-Million’s decision to close: A pending lawsuit filed against the company after the location’s former manager reportedly kicked a man and his wheelchair-riding, apparently mentally disabled son out of the store. “At some point [the son] soiled himself and the [manager] took this as a vagrance and kicked them out. Needless to say the boy’s family were outraged,” a source tells Swamplot. The manager is no longer with the company, though reportedly for “unrelated” reasons.

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Art
12/21/10 2:12pm

Agora Cafe on Westheimer: The Phoenix Has Flown the Coop

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Fires, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants
7 Comments

That phoenix carefully painted only a week and a half ago onto the side of the Agora Cafe at 1712 Westheimer near Dunlavy is now gone, reports the camera of Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia. Agora and the Antique Warehaus that used to be next door donned extremely realistic fire costumes for this past Halloween. In place of the firebird, which onlookers took as a sign the cafe might soon reopen: A new sign for the cafe itself, probably a clearer indication. It looks like more paint has found its way to the front of the Montrose hotspot too:

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Leasing
12/17/10 3:43pm

Will Late Nite Pie Rise Again?

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Midtown, Nightlife, Openings and Closings
16 Comments

Update, 12/22: Late Nite Pie has reopened!

It looks like there’s been another shut-down at Late Nite Pie in Midtown. As first noted by the Houston Press late yesterday, the entrance to the pizza joint has been boarded up, with a stern-sounding note warning off trespassers and indicating the locks have been changed. The person listed as a contact on the note (presumably from the property’s landlord) would not comment on the situation. It may be a bit early to count Late Night out, though: Bell’s restaurant was able to start up again after a similar shuttering last year. The restaurant moved to its current location at 302 Tuam (on the corner of Baldwin) in 2008.

Photo: Aaron Carpenter

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Houston Heights
12/17/10 1:45pm

The Rush to White Oak: Is the Corkscrew Next?

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Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Washington Ave
12 Comments

“You wouldn’t believe the amount of hate mail that I have received since I closed it,” owner Andrew Adams says about the Corkscrew, the wine bar he and his brother Doyle opened way back in 2006 — the early days of the new Washington Ave — but shut down last year. But Adams has been paying attention. He tells the HBJ‘s Allison Wollam he’s planning to reopen the Corkscrew in the Heights in February, as well as a second location elsewhere, which he plans to call Little Corkscrew. Where in the Heights? Adams won’t say, “because he’s still negotiating leases,” but he says he’s “considering” a building on White Oak.

If the Corkscrew does make the move to White Oak, it’ll be joining several new restaurant neighbors: Christian’s Tailgate, Tacos A Go-Go, and D’Amico’s Italian Market Cafe.

The Adams brothers recently gave up on the Corkscrew’s successor, an organic-style cocktail bar they eventually called Sugarcane, after all of 5 months. They’ll be leasing out their space at 1919 Washington to club owners who plan to open a “trendy, upscale bar, complete with bottle service,” he tells Wollam:

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Art
12/09/10 2:19pm

Westheimer Firebird Suite: Rising from the Ashes of the Agora

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Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail
3 Comments

Yeah, that does kinda look like a phoenix on the side of the Agora Cafe at 1712 Westheimer, near Dunlavy. A reader tells Swamplot a painter had scaffolding set up on the side of the building yesterday. Next door is the site where Antique Warehaus once stood; the sign on the fence says that store is “still open online.” Both properties were damaged by a Halloween fire. Closeups of the bird, captured by Swamplot nature photographer Candace Garcia, after the jump:

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Houston Heights
12/06/10 4:30pm

White Oak Restaurant Revival

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Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants
5 Comments

WHITE OAK RESTAURANT REVIVAL More evidence of an Onion Creek Coffee House magnet effect? A reader notes that Houston Press food critic Katharine Shillcut is now reporting that D’Amico’s Italian Market Cafe will be opening a second location early next year, at 2802 White Oak Dr. in the Heights. (The restaurant’s current spot is in the Rice Village.) D’Amico’s will be joining additional outposts of Tacos A Go-Go and Christian’s Tailgate on the same stretch of White Oak, just west of Studewood. [Eating Our Words; previously on Swamplot]

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Openings and Closings
12/03/10 10:31am

Can’t Beat That Tour of Italy

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Quicklink, Restaurants, Sugar Land Town Center
20 Comments

CAN’T BEAT THAT TOUR OF ITALY “It’s getting more competitive out here, and the better restaurants are continuing to perform well and the lesser ones are being replaced,” — Planned Community Developers’ Steve Eubanks, comparing the success of the recently opened Olive Garden in the area to the recent fate of Amici Ristorante in PCD’s own Sugar Land Town Center. Amici, which is closing its doors after two years of operation, was developed by Bruce McMillian and Jeff Vallone, son of famed Houston restaurateur Tony Vallone. Eubanks describes the Olive Garden off the 59 Freeway at Sweetwater Blvd. in Sugar Land as already “one of the top-performing restaurants in the chain.” [Houston Business Journal]

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Downtown
12/02/10 1:45pm

Successor to Scott Gertner’s Skybar Coming to Houston Pavilions

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Leasing, Nightlife, Openings and Closings
7 Comments

Skybar owner Scott Gertner has found a new space for his jazz club. It’ll be on the 3rd floor of Houston Pavilions — one block west of the House of Blues and Lucky Strike, and directly across the open-air mall from “swing space” originally planned for retail but now being leased as office space by an energy company. Scott Gertner’s Skybar, on the 10th floor of the office building at 3400 Montrose, closed over the summer, after Gertner tired of dealing with building maintenance issues left unaddressed by a new owner.

Houston Pavilions’ 3rd floor is pretty high up there, but Gertner says the new venue will drop the SkyBar name for the multi-level space (it’ll just be called Scott Gertner’s). At 13,000 sq. ft. (and a capacity of 700), it’ll be slightly larger than the old club too. He tells Chronicle reporter Joey Guerra the new interior, designed by Uptown Sushi architect Isaac Preminger, will feature 3 outdoor patios, an “arena-style” stage, and a full kitchen. Directly downstairs from the club, at the corner of Dallas and Fannin: BCBGMaxAzria and McCormick & Schmick’s, shown above.

Photo: Flickr user sabotai

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