Tag: Openings and Closings

77019, Commercial Real Estate, Leasing, Neighborhood Disputes, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, River Oaks, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center, Shopping Centers, Weingarten Realty

06/15/09 4:58pm

Signs of Retail Life at the Corner of Kirby and Richmond

Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby

21 Comments

A reader sends in a pic of the action at the renovated but long-suffering strip center at the southwest corner of Kirby and Richmond, which looked to be getting awfully lonely again after the departure of its lone tenant, Hue Vietnamese restaurant, in March.

But Hue is back as Kata Robata Sushi and Grill, and that white banner on the opposite leg indicates that the Dessert Gallery has moved in. Off camera, to the right, signs announce that the endcap is slated for a Texas Community Bank, but our reader reports seeing no sign of any money inside.

Hue Gone Away [Swamplot]

Photo: Swamplot inbox

77098, Leasing, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby

Houston Heights

06/08/09 2:08pm

Snoballs at MAM’s: the Heights of Ice

Openings and Closings, Restaurants

22 Comments

Bloodhound steward and low-cost-wedding expert Sara E. Cotner discovers that the snoballs at the new MAM’s House of Ice in the Fiesta parking lot at 14th and Studewood reside in the upper echelons of the highly stratified frozen-water market:

The New Orleans-sytle snowball shop has been up and running since Friday, May 29, although it has been “a year in the making.” The co-owner that I chatted with is from England but has lived in The Heights for the past 2.5 years. He quit his job as an architect and decided to “jump on a whim” and “have a go at it” by opening a “cottagey, cutesy, cutesy” snoball shop on a piece of parking lot leased from Fiesta. One of the other owners is in the process of quitting her job as a receptionist, and the third owner works in banking as an accountant.

During their year of research, they uncovered a hierarchy of ice. Apparently, snow cones are on the bottom, shaved ice is the next highest level, and snoballs are at the very top, since they are like “eating snow.”

Keeping the Heights Cool [The Heights Life]
MAM’s House of Ice [Facebook]

Photos: Sara E. Cotner (top) and MAM’s House of Ice

77008, Houston Heights, Mobile Food Vendors, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

06/05/09 4:42pm

Restaurant Row

Quicklink, Restaurants, Upper Kirby

4 Comments

RESTAURANT ROW Six-month-old, heavy-tweeting, “new world creole” Richmond Ave. restaurant SautÃ© announces it has closed . . . on Twitter: “I guess this weekend saw three inside-the-loop restaurants close: us, Rickshaw, and Cafe La Jadeite. Sigh.” [Twitter; more on the other restaurants at Eating Our Words]

77019, 77098, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Upper Kirby

Briargrove

05/27/09 11:57am

The Great Houston Strip Club Crackdown

Development Restrictions, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Quicklink

10 Comments

THE GREAT HOUSTON STRIP CLUB CRACKDOWN The arrests last week of 6 dancers, the DJ, the manager, and the “house mother” at the All-Star Men’s Club on the corner of Winrock and Westheimer — along with legal action against the club for operating a sexually oriented business without a license — are the latest rounds: â€œâ€˜This is part of a bigger effort by the White administration to use the powers that are available to the city to protect and improve the quality of life in the cityâ€™s neighborhoods,’ said private attorney Patrick Zummo, who was hired by the city to help enforce its sexually oriented business ordinance. ‘We are working on another lawsuit that would include many of those businesses that are operating illegally, and which will probably be filed in the next couple of weeks.’ . . . Frank Michel, a spokesman for Mayor Bill White, confirmed Fridayâ€™s legal action is the beginning of an offensive against sex clubs that operate in areas where they would not qualify for a city license.” [Houston Chronicle, via Boyd’s Blog]; previously in Swamplot]

77057, Briargrove, Development Restrictions, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, SOBs

Freeways and Toll Roads

04/13/09 1:03pm

Managing the New Katy Freeway Managed Lanes

Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Transportation

14 Comments

MANAGING THE NEW KATY FREEWAY MANAGED LANES Those new center sorta-HOV lanes on the new Katy Freeway will go toll starting this weekend. Here’s a little primer to help you make intelligent purchase decisions at 65 mph or more: “The lanes will now be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Outside of rush hours, theyâ€™re a toll road: every car, regardless of how many people are in it, pays $1.10 to go the full length of the lanes. During rush hour, in the rush hour direction, single occupant cars pay between $2.00 and $4.00 and 2+ carpools are free. Those rates will need to be adjusted if the lanes are too popular, because HCTRA (who operates the lanes) has promised METRO (who gave up the HOV lane to make room for them) that buses will keep moving at full speed. Single occupant vehicles and carpools will be sorted out by a three-lane toll plaza: left lane for carpools, right two lanes for SOVs.” [Intermodality; details]

Freeways and Toll Roads, I-10, Katy Freeway, Openings and Closings, Transportation

Bankruptcies

04/06/09 11:03am

Camera Stores Shuttered

Disaster Aftermath, Openings and Closings, Retail

1 Comment

Ritz Camera, which filed for bankruptcy protection in February, will be closing more than 300 of its Ritz, Wolf Camera, and Kits Camera stores nationwide, the company announced late last week. Not surprisingly, the Wolf Camera in Sage Plaza at 5161 San Felipe — less than a quarter-mile from the Wolf Camera on S. Post Oak in the Galleria — is one of the victims. Also closing: Ritz Camera stores in the Katy Mills Mall, at 5706 Highway 6 in Missouri City, and in the Royal Oaks Shopping Center at 11691 Westheimer.

Ritz is also shutting down its entire 130-store Boater’s World chain, including the 6,000-foot location in Webster. Its Galveston store never reopened after Hurricane Ike.

Ritz Camera closing 4 Houston-area stores [Houston Business Journal]
Boaterâ€™s World sinks into bankruptcy [Galveston Daily News]
Ritz Camera to Close More than 300 Stores Nationwide; Store Closing Sales Scheduled to Begin April 4 [Business Wire]
Wolf Sheepish About Closings [Swamplot]

Photo of Wolf Camera in Baybrook Square, Webster (where the lights are staying on): David Stall

Bankruptcies, Disaster Aftermath, Hurricane Ike, Openings and Closings, Retail

Lower Westheimer

03/24/09 6:02pm

Openings and Closings: Bars and Barbecue

Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Rice Village, Riverside Terrace, Sugar Land

4 Comments

An update on recent comings and goings:

Now Open: “A small group of cocktail freaks,” including former Beavers bartender Bobby Heugel, have at last opened the doors of Anvil Bar & Refuge on the Westheimer Curve. The location was originally a Bridgestone-Firestone tire shop, but was known more recently as the home of the Daiquiri Factory and Sliders.
Closed: In advance of that new 25,000-sq.-ft. Spec’s opening up in the former Linens â€™N Things in Weslayan Plaza, owner Christopher Massie decided to shut down Cepage Noir, his considerably smaller wine shop on Times Blvd. in the Rice Village.

More twists and turns:

77004, 77005, 77006, 77479, Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Rice-Village, Riverside-Terrace, Sugar-Land

Montrose

03/20/09 1:50pm

Late Night Pie Scheduled To Reopen Monday

Openings and Closings, Restaurants

7 Comments

Thank you for your concern, but the “The Pie is alive and strong,” reports Late Night Pie owner Mike Bell. Earlier this week, Katharine Shilcutt reported in the Houston Press‘s Eating Our Words blog that the pizza joint at 302 Tuam, in the eastern stretches of Montrose, had closed.

And indeed it had. But the Pie shall rise again — next week — Bell tells Swamplot:

Its been a rough couple weeks being closed but we are reopening on monday. The only major change is that we are adding a full liquor license and new selections of draft and bottle beer. Our wine list will also be new and improved. . . . Wait till everybody sees our new [custom] front door made by the nationally known artist Mik Miano. It’s awesome and will be installed this weekend for everybody to enjoy.

Late Nite Pie Takes a Dirt Nap [Eating Our Words]
The Late Late Night Pie [Swamplot]

Photos: Mike Bell

77006, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

Montrose

03/18/09 3:45pm

The Late Late Night Pie

Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants

13 Comments

THE LATE LATE NIGHT PIE [Update, 3/20: Late Night Pie’s owner says the restaurant is reopening Monday.] Midtown fugitive Late Night Pie is no more, Katharine Shilcutt discovers: “The popular pizza joint moved to Tuam a year ago, after their original ice house/converted garage location a few blocks away on Elgin was purchased by a nightclub owner. The plans to open a nightclub fell through, and the building has now been converted into a pub/restaurant, Saint Dane’s. No information about the closure has been posted to Late Nite Pie’s website and calls to the restaurant have gone completely unanswered . . . The word on the street is that the owners ceased paying their rent, which certainly doesn’t come as a surprise in the current economic climate. Combine the restaurant’s expansion into a much larger space in a pricey area with the dwindling numbers of diners, and you have a recipe for failure.” [Eating Our Words]

77006, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

03/17/09 12:16pm

Hue Gone Away

Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby

16 Comments

A couple of readers have written in to let us know that Hue Vietnamese Restaurant — otherwise known as the first but hopeful occupant of the revamped but still extremely lonely strip center at the southwest corner of Richmond and Kirby — has closed. One writes:

I have a feeling it was a casualty of a low occupancy building with additional damage inflicted by continual Kirby Ave roadwork. It’s a shame, the food and drink were mighty tasty and the building itself has some nifty lighting. Better looking than most new builds.

77098, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby

Attractions

03/16/09 5:23pm

Openings and Closings: Chili’s Chills, Movie Munchies, Green Performers

Dickinson, East Downtown, Meyerland, Museum District, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, West University

No Comments

Hey, what happened to Monday? Swamplot spent most of it fighting off a few tech demons. But hey, here’s some news!

Opened: The new and expanded Children’s Museum had its grand opening this weekend. Now twice its original size, the 90,000 sq. ft. museum features exhibits of children in various states of play. Also inside: an expanded branch of the Houston Public Library.
Opening: Backe’s Bullpen, a fine drinking establishment in Dickinson, will open with the backing of Astros pitcher Brandon Backe, reports the Galveston Daily News‘s Laura Elder. Last October, Backe was arrested after a run-in with police at a Galveston bar.
Closed: Mike McGuff notices that the Meyer Park Chili’s, once “the big teen hangout in southwest Houston,” shut down in February.

77003, 77004, 77005, 77024, 77096, Attractions, CityCentre, Dickinson, East Downtown, Meyerland, Museum District, Museums, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, West University

Homebuilders

03/09/09 10:48am

Powers Deactivates: Another Builder, Another Sunset

Homebuilders, Openings and Closings

1 Comment

Nancy Sarnoff chronicles the decline of Houston homebuilder David Powers Homes:

David Powers Homes has moved out of its offices on Westheimer and the Beltway and is now operating out of a model home in Lakes of Bella Terra, a subdivision in Richmond.

The companyâ€™s staff â€” 120 people at its peak â€” has dwindled to just four or five.

The high-end builder is now trying to finish the 36 homes it has in various stages of construction. . . .

Given the companyâ€™s higher home prices, about 50 percent of its customers financed their purchases with two loans to keep from paying higher interest rates on jumbo loans.

Those are loans that exceed $417,000.

Many of those second mortgages, Powers said, were subprime.

Recession takes its toll on another builder [Houston Chronicle, via Swamplot inbox]

Image: David Powers Homes

Commercial Real Estate

03/06/09 10:17am

Where the Freeway Met the Bayou: The Last Days of Las Alamedas

Leasing, Memorial, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

16 Comments

Over at Eating Our Words, Katharine Shilcutt has posted photos of the now-vacant longtime home of Las Alamedas Restaurant. As noted in this featured comment from a Swamplot reader, the restaurant packed up and rolled away late last month, after long-extended lease negotiations failed. Restaurant owner Jorge Sneider told the Houston Business Journal the building’s new landlords were demanding a significant rent increase.

77024, Commercial Real Estate, Leasing, Memorial, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

Comments

03/05/09 3:55pm

Comment of the Day: Great Challah Drought