Tag: Proposed Developments

Mixed Use, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

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Here are a couple renderings from the Michael Hsu Office of Architecture in Austin of the new 3-story building the firm is designing for the corner spot at 2132 Bissonnet St. in Boulevard Oaks. A representative of the Platform Group, the building’s developer, tells Swamplot an “all-day cafe/coffee shop” is being planned for the ground floor, and that the upper 2 floors will contain “boutique office space.” The cafe won’t be a Gringo’s Tex-Mex, but the developers do have a connection to that restaurant chain: The Platform Group is headed by a son and daughter-in-law of Gringo’s owner Russell Ybarra.

In the top rendering, the 11,300-sq.-ft. building is shown lining Shepherd Dr., with an L-shaped parking lot wrapping around it. A patio with outdoor seating will go in front of the structure along Bissonnet St. The Houston office of SWA Group is designing the landscape.

Here are views of the current site from similar angles:

Remaking Boulevard Oaks

77098, Boulevard-Oaks, Coffee Shops, Mixed Use, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

Downtown

08/24/17 1:00pm

Houston First Is Ready To Redo the Last Jones Plaza Redo

Proposed Developments, Renovations, Theater District

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The City of Houston website may still describe Jones Plaza as a “fully renovated” public square that forms the centerpiece of the city’s Theater District downtown, but Houston First appears ready to fully renovate it again. The quasi-public agency says it will select 5 teams from among any “experienced urban design firms, landscape architects or architects capable of creating an inspired, iconic, accessible and welcoming design” that apply before September 5 to create preliminary designs for a redo. Among the possibly familiar items listed for inclusion on the redesign menu: a water element, a “green oasis with seasonal plantings,” a performance space, an art installation, and a 4,000-sq.-ft. fast-casual restaurant.

Jones Plaza’s current design, which features similar items, dates from a 2001 rebuild led by Bricker+Cannady Architects; that renovation lowered and canted the previously raised plaza surface so that all steps could be removed from the Louisiana St. side facing Jones Hall:

Do-Overs

77002, Downtown, Proposed Developments, Public Spaces, Renovations, Theater District

08/17/17 2:00pm

Pay No Attention to the Construction Work Now Taking Place on the Ashby Highrise Site

Highrises, Proposed Developments

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Buckhead Investment Partners tells Swamplot that the work crew, excavator, and large drainage pipes spotted on location yesterday and today at the east end of the site of the residential building known as the Ashby Highrise at 1717 Bissonnet St. constitutes nothing more than “on-going site work.” Multiple permits to construct the proposed 21-story Boulevard Oaks tower have been issued over the past decade — the most recent ones a little less than a year ago. And construction crews have been active on the site before. But Buckhead reports to Swamplot that there is “nothing else meaningful to report at this time.”

Just Digging It

77005, Ashby Highrise, Boulevard-Oaks, Construction Sites, Highrises, Proposed Developments

Buying and Selling

08/14/17 10:00am

The End of the Greenspoint Mall Is Upon Us

Greenspoint, Malls, Openings and Closings, Quicklink

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THE END OF THE GREENSPOINT MALL IS UPON US Greenspoint Mall may close its doors for good in as little as 60 days, a source tells Click2Houston reporter Sophia Beausoleil — after news broke late Friday that the hobbled 42-year-old shopping center at I-45 North and Beltway 8 is under contract for purchase by an investment group headed by Chinese investor Gao Feng. Global Plaza Union says it is still considering several different redevelopment concepts for its newly acquired property. Not included in the purchase, but expected to be added to it for any transformation to take place: the 3 independently owned anchor store sites within the property. The Sears store at the southeast corner of the property closed 7 years ago; the Macy’s, in the northwest corner, shut down earlier this year; the Dillard’s in the southwest corner, closest to the freeway interchange, is one of only 2 anchors still operating in the mall. (The other is a Palais Royal.) [Click2Houston; Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot] Photo: Colliers International

77060, Buying and Selling, Greenspoint Mall, Malls, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments

Demolitions

08/11/17 11:15am

North Main Is All Ready for Its Holiday Inn Express

Glen Park, Hotels, Near Northside, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

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The new Holiday Inn Express about to begin construction at 3401 N. Main St. in the Near Northside will have some consistently quiet neighbors and some occasionally very loud ones — with the steady drone of the adjacent North Fwy.Â available to somehow bridge the gap. The 1.44-acre site, where the Casa Grande Mexican Restaurant stood until it was torn down 2 years agoÂ (and Stuarts Drive-In before it), sits across N. Main St. from the Hollywood Cemetery (yes, the same cemetery featured in Wes Anderson movieÂ Rushmore). And it’s just a bit more than a quarter-mile up N. Main from the White Oak Music Hall complex, whose outdoor concert habit spurred nearby residents kept up late at night by the noise to file suit against the venue — and later, the city of Houston — for failing to follow (and enforce) local sound ordinances.

Late last month, crews removed the concrete paving left behind after the Casa Grande demolition (see photos above). Just this week, a city permit was granted for aÂ 58,929-sq.-ft., 95-room Holiday Inn Express on the site — up 10 rooms from the 85 promised a couple of years ago, when the developers submitted these drawings as part of an application for a variance that would allow them not to have to extend or widen Norma St., on the north end of the lot:

Near Near Northside

77009, Demolitions, Glen Park, Hotels, Near Northside, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Variances

Adaptive Reuse

08/09/17 1:00pm

Where Houston’s First Virtual Reality Bar Will Exist in Meatspace

Bars and Clubs, East End, Proposed Developments

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The new bar planned for the 20,878-sq.-ft. warehouse at 3229 Navigation Blvd. in Houston’s East End that earlier this decade was home to Fred’s Trailer Truck Supply will be called Straylight Run and serve — according to its promoters — as Houston’s first-ever “Virtual Reality Bar.” That’s the conclusion of some internet sleuthing by HAIF (and Swamplot) commenter CrockpotandGravel, who after seeing Swamplot’s report on the alcohol license procured for the spot at the corner of Navigation and Engelke tracked down the establishment’s website, a (possibly spurned)Â logo proposal, and Instagram feed.

Straylight Run on Navigation

77003, Adaptive Reuse, Bars and Clubs, East End, Navigation, Proposed Developments

Demolitions

07/25/17 1:45pm

How the Heights Post Office Is Coming Down Today, and What’s Going Up in Its Place

Houston Heights, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail

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The former Heights Finance Station post office at the corner of Heights Blvd. and 11th St. — its parking lot and front door face Yale St. — is coming down in a hail of lovingly painted bricks today. The post office was closed at the end of 2015 and subsequently purchased by developer MFT Interests. The single-story building was later festooned with an assortment of romance– and ZIP-code-themed murals.

MFT is calling the new development it has planned for the 1050 Yale St. siteÂ Heights Central Station. It’ll consist of two 2-story painted-brickÂ buildings fronting 11th St.:

Heights Central Station

77008, Demolitions, Houston Heights, Mixed-Use, Murals, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail

07/20/17 12:45pm

Destination-Ization Plans for Airline Dr. Farmers Market Show New Rooftops, Playground, Multistory Observation Tower, Some Whitewashing

by Christine Gerbode

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As mentioned earlier today, more details on the plan to redo the 1940’s farmers market on Airline Dr.Â are now out — MLB released someÂ sketchesÂ and site plansÂ this morning, which the company says are meant to help turn the spot into a “destination retail experience.” The renderings show most ofÂ the gaps between the existing marketÂ buildings bridged by new rooftops and green spaces, connecting the structures into a single complex (some of which will likely get air conditioned for fish and dairy operations and the like).

It’s not totally clear whether some the existing buildings are actually going to be painted white, or if the details of planned finishesÂ just haven’t made their way into the renderingsÂ at this stage of designÂ — but the currently-yellow front of Canino’s can be spied rocking a pale greyÂ skin in the sketches above and below, behind the market’s new double-heightÂ entryÂ facade:

The Canino’s Retail Experience

77009, Airline Dr., Farmers Markets, Gentrification, Pineridge, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Stude, Sunset Heights

Quicklink

07/20/17 10:30am

Canino Market Had Already Kinda Gentrified, Say Folks Planning Upcoming $10-Million Redo

by Christine Gerbode

Sunset Heights

5 Comments

CANINO MARKET HAD ALREADY KINDA GENTRIFIED, SAY FOLKS PLANNING UPCOMING $10-MILLION REDO “Over time,” writes Nancy Sarnoff for the Chronicle this morningÂ after talking to some of the folks behind thatÂ in-the-works redevelopmentÂ of the recently sold Canino farmer’s market on Airline Dr.,Â the market hasÂ already becomeÂ “a place where produce [is] shipped and trucked in from places like Mexico and elsewhere, like it is to a grocery store.”Â The local farmers and early-morning bread-seekers are mostly gone, and property valuesÂ Â in theÂ neighborhood are already on the riseÂ — as are the townhomes. “We’ve come to the realization that no matter what we do here, it’s already happening,” MLB Partners’s Todd Mason tells Sarnoff; “We’ve looked around to buy more over here, and prices have already escalated.” The developersÂ also run throughÂ some of the detailsÂ for the $10-million project withÂ Chris Baldwin over at PaperCity, who writes thatÂ “the 17.5-acre site is being almost completely re-imagined” —Â potential changes include some 60,000 sq. ft. of additional space,Â a “large lounging lawn,” a childrenâ€™s play area, andÂ “a distinctive towering sign fromÂ Studio Red ArchitectsÂ that can be seen from the freeway.” [Houston Chronicle and PaperCity; previously on Swamplot]Â Photo:Â Canino Produce Market

77009, Farmers Markets, Gentrification, Land Sales, Pineridge, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Stude, Sunset Heights

07/19/17 1:30pm

Johnny Frank’s Auto Lot Gearing Up To Serve Drinks to Sawyer St. Silo-Goers in Next Life as an Ice House

First Ward

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The self-styled “House of a Million Parts” at 1225 Sawyer St.Â once known as Johnny Frank’s Auto Parts Company was torn to pieces last summer. Freshly applied to theÂ chain-link fence surrounding the now-vacant lot: a new TABC notice, announcing to passers-by that an establishment named the Sawyer Ice House is hoping to sling cocktails on the premises before too long. The land is across the road from those arted-up rice silos on Sawyer St., which are across Edwards St. from the Shops at Sawyer Yards. It appears to be another of the projects in that neck of the woods that trace back to Lovett Commercial, which is working on parking lots and a slew of other developments in the area as well. Here’s what Sawyer Ice House might look like, per what appears to be the bar’s new save-the-name Facebook page:

Car Lot Reincarnation

77007, First Ward, Ice Houses, Industrial Areas, Permits, Proposed Developments, TABC, Washington Corridor

Adaptive Reuse

07/14/17 5:30pm

The Wheels Are Off at This Oak Forest Tire Kiosk Transitioning to a Coffee Drive-Thru

Garden Oaks, Oak Forest, Proposed Developments, Renovations

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Here’s a view from last week of the former Express Wheel & Tire kiosk in Oak Forest,Â in the midst of its transformation into a yet-to-be-identified coffee drive-thru along Ella Blvd. at W. 34th St., at the eastern end of the shopping center redo Revive Development is working on at that intersection’sÂ southwest corner.Â Demo crews are removing theÂ overhang connecting the front canopy to the small building behind it. Renderings of the finished development on the Revive website show the canopy is meant toÂ remain — to shadeÂ a few prime parking spaces at the eastern end of the development:

W. 34th St. and Ella

77018, Adaptive Reuse, Garden Oaks, Oak-Forest, Proposed Developments, Renovations

Attractions

07/14/17 11:15am

Next Xscape Heading for the Far Reaches of Katy

Katy, Proposed Developments, Quicklink

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NEXT XSCAPE HEADING FOR THE FAR REACHES OF KATY The second of theÂ 2 XscapeÂ multiplexes planned for the “Houston” area will landÂ at the far southwest corner of Katy, reports Virtual Builders Exchange — in an update to its storyÂ identifying the Kentucky-based theater chain’s Woodlands location. A 12-screen facility (marked down a couple from the typical 14 of the prototype) and accompanying 540-spaceÂ parking lot will settle down atÂ 26616 FM 1093, just east of FM 1463, in the southwest corner of the Westheimer Lakes NorthÂ subdivision and across from Cross Creek Ranch — if contractors get their bids in to the company by the August 1 deadline. The plans for the 51,968-sq.-ft.Â Katy building appearÂ virtually identical to those for the Woodlands theater.Â [Virtual Builders Exchange; previously on Swamplot] Rendering of Xscape prototype: Patoka Capital

77494, Katy, Movie-Theaters, Proposed Developments

07/13/17 10:45am

5 Slim Chickens Caught Crossing Houston Border

Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Restaurants, Vintage Lakes

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5 SLIM CHICKENS CAUGHT CROSSING HOUSTON BORDER The Slim Chicken drive-ups in Katy, Cypress, Spring, and Humble will soon be joined by 5 new locations of the restaurant franchiseÂ inside the Houston city limits. First up: wingsÂ and Texas-shaped waffles will become available atÂ 9850 Louetta Rd. in Vintage Lakes, right byÂ Aldi and just down the street from the fast-food mecca known as Vintage Marketplace. A Kingwood location atÂ 30255 LoopÂ 494 should open later this summer, though it isn’t clear if the Arkansas-based chain is counting that location as one of its 5 genuineÂ Houston spots. [Eater Houston] Photo of the Slim Chicken opened late last year atÂ 9255 FM 1960 Bypass Rd. in Humble: Edwin R.

77070, 77339, Fast Food, Franchises, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Vintage Lakes

East Downtown

07/12/17 11:00am

What Could Go Under When I-45 Moves Underground and East of Downtown