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Only the Starbucks Will Remain

A Townhome Takeover for the Corner of South Main and Buffalo Speedway

Demolition of Former Shopping Center, 9714 Buffalo Spdwy., Houston

Crews are already at work (above) removing asbestos from the vacant shopping center at 9714 Buffalo Spdwy., one block up on S. Main St. from the South Loop and a mile and a half west of the Astrodome. Plans have already been made for the 1.26-acre property, as well as for the former America’s Best Value Inn immediately south of it at 9604 S. Main St. An entity controlled by developer Frank Liu bought the motel and its 3.13-acre lot in January, and pre-demolition activities are going on there now too.

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Redevelopment, Townhomes, Westridge

04/23/15 2:00pm

77025, Demolitions, Redevelopment, Townhomes, Westridge

Katy Fwy. Coffee Chase

Hedwig Village’s New Freeway-Side Starbucks Drive-Thru Is Coming To Save Your Missed Exit

Construction of New Starbucks Drive-Thru at 8819 Katy Fwy. at Brogden Rd., Hedwig Village, Houston

Former Village Mobil at 8819 Katy Fwy. at Brogden Rd., Hedwig Village, Houston Headed into the Loop along I-10 and missed the exit for the Starbucks in the shopping center at Echo Ln.? Construction has already begun on your new inbound coffee-stop backup. The former site of the stone-encrusted Village MobilÂ gas station at the corner of Brogden and the eastbound Katy Fwy. feeder road (pictured here as it appeared before it was torn down last year) between Campbell and Voss is currently being transformed into a brand-new Starbucks drive-thru, a source tells Swamplot. And you can reach it from the next exit, for Bingle and Voss — if, in your uncaffeinated state, you can move 3 lanes over on the feeder fast enough. (If not, just apologize to the drivers you almost cut off and try to duck into the Sweet Tomatoes parking lot across the way to work your way back; if you miss that, you can take a mile-long turnaround through the neighborhood by making a right turn on Old Voss Rd.)

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Hedwig Village, New Construction, Redevelopment, Retail

04/21/15 11:00am

77024, Cafes, Drive-Thrus, Hedwig Village, New Construction, Redevelopment, Starbucks

Tablet Service

New Olive Garden Now in Bloom on the South Side of 59, Near Buffalo Speedway

Olive Garden Restaurant, 2929 Southwest Fwy., Upper Kirby, Houston

Could’ve been a Red Lobster or a Longhorn Steakhouse, but Darden Restaurants went the Olive Garden route with the brand-new feeder-side building-in-a-parking-lot the company built in place of the Greenway Inn & Suites — the hotel at 2929 Southwest Fwy. formerly known as the Houstonaire Motor Inn and the Colonel Sanders’ Inn, which was demolished last fall. The signs on the building, which is still under construction, went up yesterday, reports the reader who snapped these pics:

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New Construction, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Upper Kirby

04/15/15 11:45am

77098, New Construction, Openings and Closings, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Upper Kirby

The Townhomes Are Coming

On Taft St. Near Welch, Where a Utility Pole Can’t Get Out of the Way Fast Enough

Driveway and Utility Pole, 2115 Taft St., Montrose, Houston

A couple of readers have sent in pics of the curious driveway installation at 2115 Taft St. just south of Welch St. just over the eastern border from Montrose, on the former site of the Taft St. Coffee House and Ecclesia Church. The utility pole dates from the lot’s former inhabitants; the courteous flatwork has been built around it for later patching. “In case youÂ are wondering,” writes one of our tipsters, “the space on either side is not wide enough for a car to pass, nor does the driveway go all the way through to the next street.”

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Fourth Ward, New Construction, Redevelopment, Streetscapes, Utilities

04/06/15 1:45pm

77006, Fourth Ward, New Construction, Redevelopment, Streetscapes, Utilities

Castle Court Apartments

How Quickly The Place Was Torn Down Last Week

Demolition of The Place Apartment Homes, 1341 Castle Ct., Castle Court, Montrose, Houston

Demolition crews made short work of The Place apartments at 1341 Castle Ct. late last week. A reader reports seeing the 1974 complex largely intact Friday morning, but coming by again that afternoon to see it in this sorry state:

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Demolitions, Montrose, Redevelopment

04/06/15 12:00pm

77006, Apartments, Castle Court, Demolitions, Montrose, Redevelopment

Robindell Shopping Center Redo

Aldi in, Birria de Chiva Out, Baskin-Robbins Safe at the Corner of Beechnut and Bissonnet

Robindell Shopping Center, 6751 Bissonnet St., Robindell, Houston

Robindell Shopping Center, 6751 Bissonnet St., Robindell, Houston For Trudi’s Birria de Chivo and other now-shuttered mainstays of the east corner of Bissonnet and Beechnut in Robindell, just down the road from Bayland Park, it’s all over except the asbestos-clearing and smashing. Going up in place of the 1956 Robindell Shopping Center, according to Sharpstown Civic Association, will be a new Aldi grocery store.

The site plan below for the center at 6751 Bissonnet St. predates the Aldi announcement, but shows a possible arrangement of freefloating buildings to replace the about-to-be-demolished retail row now backing up to Albacore Dr.:

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Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail, Robindell, Shopping Centers

04/01/15 4:30pm

77074, Demolitions, Redevelopment, Retail, Robindell, Shopping Centers

Avalon Place

These Tall and Upper-Crusty $1.7 Million Pelican Townhome-Style Mansionettes Will Replace the Mimosa Lane Apartments

Rendering of Mimosa Place, 2415 Mimosa Dr., Avalon Place, Houston

HBJ reporter Paul Takahashi has details on the gated compound of 18 homes Pelican Builders is planning to fit onto the about-an-acre site of the recently vacated Mimosa Lane Apartments and Argonne Forest Apartments at the corner of Mimosa Dr. and Argonne St., behind the Huntingdon condo tower in Avalon Place. And — surprise! — they’ll be very similar to the townhouse-style structures in Pelican’s Bancroft Place compound 2-1/2 miles to the west, which was designed by the same architect, the Hopkins Company.

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New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

03/09/15 1:00pm

77019, Avalon Place, Demolitions, Gated Communities, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Townhomes

Ashes to Ashford

Trammell Crow Planning To Plant Another Alexan Apartment Complex on Former Cornelius Nursery Site on Dairy Ashford

Cornelius Nursery, 1200 N. Dairy Ashford Rd., Energy Corridor, Houston

Remember the Cornelius Nursery at 1200 N. Dairy Ashford Rd. just south of I-10, which closed down at the beginning of the year? (The photos here show the establishment, which sat at the corner of St. Mary’s Ln., just before its final uprooting.) The 3-acre property, it turns out, had been bought by an entity set up byÂ Trammell Crow Residential in early December. A new complex called the Alexan Ashford Apartments is slated for the site. At least that’s the plan.

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Energy Corridor, Redevelopment

03/04/15 11:45am

77079, Apartments, Energy-Corridor, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

Greenway Plaza Demo

Clearing Out the Greenway Gardens Apartments; Is a New Marquis Coming?

Greenway Gardens Apartments, 3131 Timmons Ln., Greenway Plaza, Houston

Greenway Gardens Apartments, 3131 Timmons Ln., Greenway Plaza, Houston

It sure looks like demolition is a-coming for the Greenway Gardens apartments at 3131 Timmons Ln. near Greenway Plaza. Either that or the 43-year-old 10-building apartment complex is undergoing a rather brutal first phase of a renovation — as portrayed in the photos shown here, which were taken late last week. The 3-story complex sits on 6-and-a-half acres between W. Alabama St. and Richmond Ave.

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Demolitions, Greenway Plaza, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

03/02/15 1:15pm

77027, Apartments, Demolitions, Greenway Plaza, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

Apartments at T.C. Jester

Looking in on Washington Ave’s Next Pearl

pearl-washington-pano

Fresh from the Twitter feed of pics-about-town provider Christopher Andrews, here’s a panoramic view of the northeast corner of Washington Ave and T.C. Jester Blvd., where construction is proceeding on the Morgan Group’s 6-story Pearl Washington apartment complex. The 322-unit property will feature this courtyard deck facing the front entry at 5424 Washington Ave, a mile west of the similarly named but differently purposedÂ Pearl Lounge.

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New Construction, Westwood Grove

02/23/15 3:30pm

77007, Apartments, New Construction, Redevelopment, Westwood Grove

Oaks on Shepherd

Weingarten: Tearing Down North Shepherd Sears Was Just Our Suggestion to Sears

Proposed Oaks on Shepherd Shopping Center, 4000 N. Shepherd Dr., Independence Heights, Houston

Sears, 4000 N. Shepherd St., Garden Oaks, Houston A scheme to demolish the 1949 Sears building at 4000 N. Shepherd Dr. and the Pine Forest Business Park behind it and replace it with an “Americana”-themed shopping center headlined by a new Sears store and a supermarket is only part of an unsolicited proposal sent to the national retailer, a representative of Weingarten Realty tells Swamplot. A brochure describing aspects of the proposal, which would replace the Streamline Moderne department store between Garden Oaks and Independence Heights with a higher density shopping center that the body copy implied would be styled in a manner akin to the residential designs of Frank Lloyd Wright, was posted online by the publicly traded REIT earlier this week.

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Garden Oaks, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Shopping Centers

02/19/15 11:30am

77018, Garden Oaks, Independence Heights, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Shopping Centers

Oaks on Shepherd

Weingarten Wants To Turn Streamline Moderne Sears on North Shepherd Into Prairie Style Shopping Complex

Proposed Oaks on Shepherd Shopping Center, 4000 N. Shepherd Dr., Independence Heights, Houston

Proposed Oaks on Shepherd Shopping Center, 4000 N. Shepherd Dr., Independence Heights, Houston

Update, 2/19: Weingarten says the brochure was a “vision book” that was released to the public in error.

“The time is right for redevelopment” of the Sears at 4000 N. Shepherd Dr., declaresÂ a brochure published online earlier this week by Weingarten Realty. The brochure, which appears to be part of a proposal to Sears, which owns the 11.7-acre western portion of the site, says the REIT plans to partner with the retailer to turn the sleepy department store and the Pine Forest Business Park directly to its east into a “wonderfully connected and designed retail shopping destination for Garden Oaks, Oak Forest and neighborhoods around it,” including a new grocery store and restaurants.

No site plan is included in the presentation, but Weingarten notes that it plans to keep “the 2nd longest operating Houston Sears” open in some form throughout the redevelopment. “Weingarten’s vision is to acquire adjacent land,” then “temporarily relocate Sears into an existing building” — the Family Bingo Center at 641 W. Crosstimbers — before scraping and redoing the whole site.

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Garden Oaks, Oak Forest, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing, Redevelopment, Shopping Centers

02/18/15 1:00pm

77018, Garden Oaks, Independence Heights, Oak-Forest, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing, Redevelopment, Shopping Centers, Weingarten Realty

A Garden Apartment Sendoff

After-Party Pics from the Last Mimosa Farewell Tour, in Avalon Place

Mimosa Ln. Apartments, 2415 Mimosa Ln., Avalon Place, Houston

Mimosa Ln. Apartments, 2415 Mimosa Ln., Avalon Place, Houston Last call came for the Mimosa Lane Apartments a couple of months ago — residents of the 1960 garden apartment complex in Avalon Place (along with those of its neighbor, the Argonne Forest Apartments) were given notice in early October of an end-of-November clear-out. That was apparently plenty of time to get word out about a goodbye party or 2.

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Avalon Place, Evictions, Openings and Closings, Redevelopment

02/02/15 1:00pm

77019, Apartments, Avalon Place, Demolitions, Evictions, Openings and Closings, Redevelopment

Buying and Selling

Developers from Dallas

What’s Eating Los Dos Amigos and Premo’s Grocery on Washington Ave

Los Dos Amigos Mexican Restaurant, 5720 Washington Ave, Woodcrest, Houston

Los Dos Amigos Mexican Restaurant, 5720 Washington Ave, Woodcrest, Houston The last date to order cheese enchiladas at Los Dos Amigos, the Mexican restaurant that’s stood at 5720 Washington Ave at the corner of Birdsall for the past 39 years, is February 28th. In early December, the longtime owners of an L-shaped group of parcels spanning the entire north side of the Washington Ave block between Birdsall and Malone — along with an adjoining “L” around the corner facing Birdsall (see map above) — sold the whole thing to a developer out of Dallas operating under the name of a partnership calling itself OSF Washington. Among the other entities linked to the buyers: Vintala Partners, which has developed apartments in the past.

Also on the block and going away: the Premo’s Grocery building at 5702 Washington. The entire site, including both buildings and parking lots, measures 26,675 sq. ft.

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Openings and Closings, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor, Woodcrest

01/22/15 12:45pm

77007, Buying and Selling, Openings and Closings, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail, Washington Ave., Washington Corridor, Woodcrest

International Mailing Systems Gone

The Most Explicit Photos You’ll See of Townhomes Taking Over East Downtown Industry

Demolition of International Mailing Systems, 815 Live Oak St., East Downtown

Sure, we all know the future of East Downtown is townhomes, and that the industrial structures that once dominated that landscape are on their way out. But have you seen a set of photos that better illustrates the transformation than this gallery of views taken by reader Jeff Peoples this morning? It shows the demolition of the former International Mailing Systems warehouse building at 815 Live Oak St. Not much more need for them to be close to downtown.

You can see the townhomes marching from the background of the above photo, smashing everything in their way.

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Redevelopment, Townhomes

01/21/15 5:00pm

77003, East Downtown, Industrial Buildings, Redevelopment, Townhomes

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