Tag: Parking

Demolitions, Downtown, Hotels, Office Buildings, Parking

43 Comments

Brookfield Office Properties announced giddily yesterday that the real-estate company has bought the 28-story long-vacant former Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel at 711 Polk St. Downtown — just so it can tear the property down. The once-swank hotel achieved a small measure of fame as the Beatles’ Houston crashpad . . . and was also apparently graced with an overnight stay by Kennedy avenger Jack Ruby. But the building has sat vacant for the last 24 years. Brookfield owns the 35-story office building directly to the northeast (at 1201 Louisiana), which has long offered tenants closeup views of the decaying structure. But it looks like only the building’s underground features will remain:

“Our tenants in Total Plaza will experience views of downtown that they never had before,” announced Brookfield’s Paul Layne, “and access to three levels of below-grade parking.” The company says it has no particular plans for further development of the site once the building is demolished.

In 2007, Omni Hotels and an Atlanta company called Songy Partners announced plans to create an all-suites hotel in the structure, which had been cleared of asbestos in the late nineties. The development was meant to include meeting space, restaurants, and a wellness and fitness center. But the project stalled. More recently, the property was put on the market for more than $8 million.

A few scenes from the hotel’s earlier days:

77002, Commercial Real Estate, Demolitions, Downtown, Hotels, Parking

Openings and Closings

08/23/10 2:03pm

Where the Buffalo Grille Will Roam

Parking, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, West University

11 Comments

The original Buffalo Grille has at last identified a fallow shopping-center slot to migrate to, about a mile southwest of its current location. The new brunch spot will be at 4080 Bissonnet, on the far western end of West U’s Montclair Shopping Center (the one with the Randalls) at Weslayan. Last seen in this location: The Candle House, next to one of those old retail storefronts for Countrywide Home Loans.

Buffalo Grille’s current building on Bissonnet at Buffalo Speedway — where it’s been for 26 years — is the only section remaining of the shopping center torn down on that site to build H-E-B’s Buffalo Market. The Buffalo Pharmacy next door to it was demolished in 2008. The following year, an H-E-B representative told West U’s city council that Buffalo Grille would stay where it was, but by this April, the grocery company politely announced that its neighbor would be looking for a new home — to open up more spaces for parking.

77005, Demolitions, Grocery Stores, Openings and Closings, Parking, Restaurants, Shopping Centers, West University

Institutional Buildings

08/17/10 11:20am

Parking Garage High: Where They’ll Stack 6 Levels of Cars at St. Thomas High School

Magnolia Grove, New Construction, Parking

23 Comments

St. Thomas High School officials broke ground last week on what will likely be the most monumental garage in the long history of Houston secondary school parking. A 6-story, 433-space parking structure designed by Kirksey will rise at the southeast corner of the school’s Memorial-and-Shepherd campus. It’ll replace this dirt lot southwest of Granger Stadium and just north of Shepherd, allowing other parking areas on campus to be redeveloped. A couple rendered views of the finished product, some portion of which will likely be visible from Shepherd:

77007, Institutional Buildings, Magnolia Grove, New Construction, Parking, Parking-Garages, Schools

First Colony

07/30/10 9:55am

First Colony Mall’s Used-Car-Dealer Valet

Malls, Parking, Quicklink, Retail, Sugar Land

2 Comments

FIRST COLONY MALL’S USED-CAR-DEALER VALET Your keys, please? A local used-car dealership is the new sponsor of the “free” valet parking service at First Colony Mall in Sugar Land. Independent used-car giant Texas Direct Auto, which has its roots in eBay (and still sells most of its cars online), now has its blue and white umbrellas parked in front of the Cheesecake Factory and on the mall’s interior street near Kona Grill, with valets ready to take your car. The company’s main dealership is just 5 miles north of the mall, on the 59 feeder road. And yes, the company does take trade-ins. [Ultimate Fort Bend]

77478, First Colony, Malls, Parking, Retail, Sugar-Land

Lancaster Place

07/23/10 10:39am

H-E-B Looking for $2 to $3 Million for a 2-Acre Montrose Park

Montrose, Parking, Parks, Proposed Developments, Retail

68 Comments

H-E-B Houston division president Scott McClelland tells the Chronicle‘s Mike Morris what he’s been telling members of the Montrose Land Defense Coalition for several months: That the grocery company is willing to include a 2-acre park adjacent to its planned Montrose store on the site of the former Wilshire Village apartments at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy — but only if community fundraisers can come up with “some offset” of the $2 to $3 million in extra costs required. “I’m not saying it has to be dollar-for-dollar,” McClelland says. “If we get close to raising that kind of money, we’ll find a way to do it. But if we can’t raise any money, it’d be tough for me to justify putting a park in.”

The company plans to have its new store back up to West Alabama and face south. If enough money can be raised, McClelland says the store can be raised — on stilts, so parking can fit underneath. That would leave room for a 2-acre park on the site’s south end. The “H-E-B on stilts” plan would also include space for a farmers market. Without the extra funds, that park area would be used for parking instead — though mature trees on the south portion of the property would still remain.

77098, Grocery Stores, Houston Architects, Lancaster Place, Montrose, Parking, Parks, Proposed Developments, Retail, Wilshire Village

07/22/10 2:32pm

Comment of the Day: The Lure of the Empty Parking Lot

Parking, Quicklink, Retail

7 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE LURE OF THE EMPTY PARKING LOT “If I am driving around town and need to stop to buy some bars of soap, and I see a store on the left with a crowded parking lot and the store on the right with a spacious parking lot, which one do you think that I would normally choose to go to? I donâ€™t want to spend 5 minutes looking for one of the 50 remaining parking spaces. Do you? Plus, if the parking lot looks crowded, donâ€™t you think that a driver is going to say, ‘ummm..that store looks really busy. It might take a while to get in and out of there. I think Iâ€™ll pass and go to the store across the street.â€™â€ [Random Poster, commenting on On Top of Old 1,1-Dichloroethene: The New Silber Rd. Walmart]

Comments, Parking, Parking-Lots, Retail

06/28/10 1:35pm

Comment of the Day: A Suggested Tweak for Houston’s Off-Street Parking Ordinance

Parking, Quicklink, Strip Centers

4 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: A SUGGESTED TWEAK FOR HOUSTON’S OFF-STREET PARKING ORDINANCE “The wholesale appropriation of strip center parking spaces by restaurants et al. for valet parking is reprehensible [and] ought to be made illegal!” [Robert Mark Megna, commenting on Hooked on Valet: The Folks Scaring Away Your Strip Center Parking Spots; previously on Swamplot]

Comments, Parking, Strip Centers

06/24/10 4:24pm

Comment of the Day: Valet Confidential

Parking, Quicklink, Shopping Centers

2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: VALET CONFIDENTIAL “My first job was as a valet at a dinner club, and it was a great job. I set the policy for the lot, and I never restricted or blocked any spaces. Some people would have me park their cars even when all the front spaces were open. Others would cruise the far reaches of the lot rather than let me do it. That was OK with me. There are some good reasons not to turn your car over to a stranger â€“ such as valuables or guns in the car or peculiarities about how the car runs. Also OK was the small percentage of non-tippers. I figured that some people mistakenly though sincerely believed that the service was complimentary by the restaurant. Others did not have the change on hand but would make it up the next time. What I hated was when the driver had a tip ready but put it back in his pocket as soon as he saw that I was not going to pressure him for it. I always ran for the cars and made it a point to remember who drove what car, so I made patrons feel important instead of turning them into claim check numbers. I am particularly offended by shopping centers that block all of the close spaces for valet service. Itâ€™s fine to provide the service for those who need or want it, but hogging the front spaces sends the message ‘Weâ€™re fancier than you, so you have to pay to get near our stores.’â€ [erasmus, commenting on Hooked on Valet: The Folks Scaring Away Your Strip Center Parking Spots]

Comments, Parking, Shopping Centers

06/22/10 4:10pm

Comment of the Day: Valet Cupcake Service Would Cost Extra

Parking, Quicklink, Retail

No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: VALET CUPCAKE SERVICE WOULD COST EXTRA “Hey, if they can sell cupcakes for $3.75 – more power to them! If people want to buy $3.75 cupcakes? Awesome. Someone gets to make some money for a while. Itâ€™s not like they coneâ€™d off the cheap cupcakes and make you stare at them while they force you to buy the expensive one.” [drone, commenting on The Cupcake Backup at Highland Village]

Comments, Parking, Retail

Parking

06/21/10 5:00pm

Hooked on Valet: The Folks Scaring Away Your Strip Center Parking Spots

Restaurants, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Washington Corridor

130 Comments

Chron roving videographer Jason Witmer unearths the catalyst of the strip-center parking-cone epidemic: It’s those valet addicts.

â€œEven if itâ€™s right in front on a Sunday and youâ€™re the first person here,” says Antonio Gianola of Washington Avenue’s Catalan Food and Wine, “some people — when they realize thereâ€™s no valet — decide theyâ€™d rather leave.â€

Apparently, it’s not too hard to find one of these “customers”: â€œI have gone and talked to the manager, and said, yâ€™all need valet,â€ Cathy Mayfield says on camera.

Cathy Mayfield says she just likes the convenience. She doesnâ€™t even look to see if there are parking spaces nearby: â€œIâ€™m willing to pay a little bit of money not to have to be driving around looking for a parking spot.â€

Others say it doesnâ€™t make any sense that spots right in front of the restaurant are blocked off for valet.

Is valet parking a must? [Houston Chronicle]

Video: Jason Witmer

77007, Parking, Restaurants, Videos, Washington Corridor

Buying and Selling

06/21/10 3:14pm

Comment of the Day: The Uchi Houston Parking Plan

Comments, Commercial Real Estate, Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Parking, Quicklink, Restaurants

1 Comment

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]

77006, Buying and Selling, Comments, Commercial Real Estate, Lower Westheimer, Openings and Closings, Parking, Restaurants

Institutional Buildings

06/11/10 12:01pm

Kipling Street Academy: Doubling Kid Parking Places in Montrose

Montrose, Parking, Schools

10 Comments

A reader sends photos to document the advance of Montrose’s Kipling Street Academy. The 2-story private preschool was set back deep in the 50-ft.-wide residential lot at 1425 Kipling a few years ago. Now it’s expanding one lot further, to the corner of Mulberry St. Owner Jennifer Pierce bought the small apartment complex on that site last year and had it demolished. The finished building will feature a wide second-story gallery tiptoeing over the back row of parking spaces, leaving the front of both lots clear for cars and kiddie drop-offs:

77006, Additions, Institutional Buildings, Montrose, Parking, Schools

Galveston

05/17/10 3:20pm

Galveston’s New Parking Meters Will Be Ready To Rat on You When You’re Running Late

Parking, Quicklink

9 Comments

GALVESTON’S NEW PARKING METERS WILL BE READY TO RAT ON YOU WHEN YOU’RE RUNNING LATE Downtown Galveston’s unofficial era of free parking will come to a rather abrupt end as workers install new solar-powered meters that automatically notify enforcement officers when a space runs out of time. If you’re under the limit, you’ll be able to add more time to your meter from a mobile phone. The new wireless meters will be installed on streetcorners between 20th and 25th streets and Harborside Dr. to Postoffice St.: “The city has removed 707 of the hurricane-damaged coin-operated meters and more than a dozen of the larger meters that accepted credit cards. Shortly after Hurricane Ike struck Galveston on Sept. 13, 2008, filling downtown streets with a salty storm surge, city crews cracked open the machines and removed the corroded, green coins. They cracked the meters open again recently and found $1,600 more in coins that people fed into the dead meters. Those coins also were corroded. The city plans to turn the coins into the U.S. Mint for reimbursement.” [Galveston County Daily News; more details]

77550, Galveston, Parking

05/10/10 2:34pm

Comment of the Day: Parallel Park or Lose It