Tag: Restaurants

Redevelopment, Renovations, Restaurants, Retail

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It’s been the better partÂ of a year since Pepino’s on Richmond Ave. started showing signs of closure (namely, since its name signage came down, signaling the end of the joint’s nearly decade-and-a-half run in Castle Court). A nearby reader spotted what looksÂ to be some work to prep the stripmall spot for its next occupant, whichÂ was issuedÂ a few permits last weekÂ under the name Miss Saigon.Â (That name shows up in Braun’s leasing flier for its newly acquired property, too, though it’s not clear yet whether the name is connected to one of the otherÂ Houston Miss Saigon-inspired Vietnamese restaurants, or is merely another independent nodÂ to the musical.)

Speaking of musicals, part of the former Pepino’s space looks to have been absorbed by nextdoor piano cabaret Michael’s Outpost, whose red door is visible above and in a few of theÂ leasing shots of the remodeled center (below):

Braun Goes Gray

77006, Neartown, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail, Strip Malls

06/06/17 9:15am

Washington Warehouse’s Rainbow Retail Re-Doing Could Lie at the End of an Extended Edwards St.

Sawyer Heights, Washington Corridor

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Another potential future target in ~~striking~~ walking range of that 542-space parking lot Lovett Commercial looks to beÂ planning atÂ Center and Silver streets:Â the color-splashed warehouse redo sketched out above, as seen in another of the company’s current leasing fliers. This one is for a facelift of the 1970s building former occupied byÂ Mass Electric Construction CompanyÂ atÂ 1201 Oliver St., a few blocks west down the railroad tracks past Sawyer St. Clustered nearby are a fair number ofÂ other Lovett-affiliated developments (including some of the artsyÂ hubbub between Sawyer andÂ Silver).

Renderings and site plans suggestÂ a cidery could be taking over the west end of the building — the flier includes a north-is-down lookÂ at plans for splitting upÂ the space, including a cutout for a breezeway:

Wash Ave Sketch

77007, Development Patterns, Parking, Parking-Lots, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail, Washington Ave.

Demolitions

06/02/17 12:45pm

Fallen Jefferson Davis Nurses Quarters Face Death atop Old City Graveyard, Surrounded by Art and Emergency Response Vehicles

First Ward, Historic Preservation, Public Art

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The partially ruined former Jefferson Davis HospitalÂ nurses quarters at 1225 Elder St.Â — until very recentlyÂ in the running for a spotÂ on the National Register of Historic Places — was recommended for demolition at last week’s Harris County Commissioner’s Court meeting following a public hearingÂ the day before.Â The building, tucked west ofÂ the elevated freeway tangle where I-45 splits from I-10 near Downtown, would have joined the nextdoor former Jefferson Davis Hospital itself on the historicÂ registry — instead, it looks like the structure will finally meet meet the ‘dozers after its long slow decline, accelerated by damage from a fire inÂ 2013 that lead toÂ last year’s semi-collapse.

Next door, the 4-story hospital structure (built in 1924, and replaced by 1938 with another Jefferson Davis Hospital where the Federal Reserve building now stands onÂ Allen Pkwy.) cycled through variousÂ modes of use and disuse until its early 2000’s restoration into the Elder Street Artist Lofts, whichÂ serve as low-rentÂ apartmentsÂ and studios forÂ artsy types.Â That redevelopment, of course, involved carefully diggingÂ around theÂ dozens of unmarked gravesÂ turned up on the surrounding land, which beginning inÂ 1840Â had served as the second city cemetery (and as the final resting place forÂ a hodgepodge likely including Â Confederate soldiers,Â former slaves, victims of the 1860sÂ yellow fever epidemics, people who died in duels, Masons, and a variety of others). The hospital’s name is still carved above the lofts’ entrance:

First Ward Fire Damage by HFD

77007, Affordable Housing, Apartments, Art, Cemeteries, Churches, Collapses, Confederate History, Demolition, Fires, First Ward, Graveyards, Historic Preservation, National Register of Historic Places, Public Art, Restaurants, Restorations, Statues

06/01/17 11:30am

What’s Sticking Up Near and Underneath 2929 Weslayan’s Frilly Skirt

Greenway Plaza, Highland Village, Restaurants, Retail

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A couple of projects on the near and more distant horizons at the corner of Weslayan and W. Alabama turned a reader’s head this week as he passed by the short-skirted base of the 2929 Weslayan highrise. To the west, a sign posted alongsideÂ the parking lot of the half-moon-footedÂ 2900 Weslayan office midrise bears a rendering of a new retail building PMRG is planning for the site.Â A few more views of the 6,500-sq.-ft. projectÂ make a somewhat rosy appearanceÂ in the new leasing materials for the space:

Sneaking Some Peeks

77027, Greenway/Upper Kirby, Highland Village, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail

Bars and Clubs

05/31/17 11:15am

Tuscanized Former Dry Cleaning Spot on Brays Bayou Almost Ready for Its Restaurant Biz Re-Debut

Braeswood Place, Restaurants

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The Bacco folks appear to beÂ moving right along with theÂ makeover of that little freestanding Shriner’s HospitalÂ clothing donation centerÂ building along Brays Bayou northwest of Stella Link Rd., a few readers note. The donation center signage (shown in the second photo) has now been fully swapped out for the wine bar’s logo and entryway stylings, and the bar says it’ll be working on an outdoor deck soon, now that internal rearrangements have mostly wrapped up. The new look has so far maintained the stone skin that the building picked up aroundÂ 2013,Â before the then-empty retail shell picked up senior care consultantÂ Care Locators as a tenant; before that, the Pilgrim Cleaners had opted for a more flat color scheme (shown below in an old listing photo without much in the way of windows, either):

Bar on the Bayou

77025, Adaptive Reuse, Braeswood Place, Brays-Bayou, Restaurants, Retail

Quicklink

05/30/17 5:00pm

Nice Park If You Can Get to It, and Other Houston Encapsulations

Upper Kirby

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NICE PARK IF YOU CAN GET TO IT, AND OTHER HOUSTON ENCAPSULATIONS George Ristow’s take for OffCite on theÂ recently unveiledÂ public-private redoÂ ofÂ Levy Park?Â It’s become “one of Houstonâ€™s best outdoor public spaces” — asÂ long as you canÂ get yourself there:Â “The park is tucked away from view, dwarfed by the Kirby Grove building, which undermines its connectionÂ [to] Richmond Ave.Â (bringing visitors from Upper Kirby). Although there are sidewalks immediately surrounding the park, no sidewalk exists on either side of Eastside St. between the park and Richmond. Just one block south of the park, the Southwest Freeway, with a right-of-way as wide as the park itself, walls off West Universityâ€™s upper reaches as if it were an international border crossing. Consider the Olive Garden restaurant, surrounded by a typical suburban parking lot, built within the same time period as the Levy Park facelift just on the other side of the freeway. Here we have Houston in a nutshell: a state-of-the-art destination public park next to a 19-lane freeway next to a chain restaurant, with no way to walk between them.” [OffCite; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Levy Park Conservancy

77098, Freeways, Levy Park, Parks, Pedestrians, Restaurants, Upper Kirby

Quicklink

05/26/17 3:15pm

A Check on Expiration Dates amid the Heights Foodie Boom

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A CHECK ON EXPIRATION DATES AMID THE HEIGHTS FOODIE BOOM TheÂ restaurant–heavyÂ redevelopmentÂ of variousÂ used car dealerships and auto shops along N. Shepherd Dr. might bring with itÂ some futureÂ trouble for the Heights area, Jonathan McElvyÂ suggests in his column for the Leader this week. McElvy worries that too many newÂ spotsÂ chasing after trends in theÂ “culinary preferences of Houstonâ€™s red-hot foodie community,” (as he notes recently closed-for-re-concepting Heights restaurantÂ Glass WallÂ describedÂ it) may meanÂ that the areaÂ is “about to enter a period of constant turnover along our most important corridor.” Noting the startling estimates on how many restaurantsÂ close in fewerÂ than 5 yearsÂ (whether due to lack ofÂ business knowledge,Â bad construction traffic, or sheer bad luck),Â McElvy writes that while there’s little to be done to curb the popularity ofÂ “farm-to-table restaurants that know how to plate a dish but donâ€™t have a clue how to pay franchise taxes on time . . .Â it is not going to help our community if 1Â business opens and another closes every other week.” [The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Karen S.

77008, 77009, Development Patterns, Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

05/25/17 10:45am

Raw Materials of Fourth Ward Refinery Restaurant Now Being Processed, Converted into Seafood Bar

Fourth Ward

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The Refinery Burgers & WhiskeyÂ is currently in the process of moving past itsÂ oil theme dependencyÂ and rebranding to pay homage to a different set ofÂ Gulf Coast-al tropes: the new name of the joint at 702 W. Dallas St. will be South Bank Seafood Bar, and a menu including some Asian and Cajun-Creole nodsÂ is purportedly in the works.

TheÂ patio in front of the 2-spot retail strip (which the restaurant sharesÂ with barber and beardwrangler Shave) has been getting dressed up and expandedÂ as part of the remodel. And just this morning, a reader caught sight of what may be preparations to slice a service-window-shaped hole into theÂ shipping containerÂ now sitting out front:

Habitat Alteration at Downtown’s Edge

77019, Adaptive Reuse, Bars, Fourth Ward, Remodeling, Restaurants

05/24/17 11:30am

Where 2 New Buildings and 542 New Surface Parking Spots Could Fit North of Washington Ave.

New Construction, Restaurants, Retail, Washingto Corridor, Washington Ave

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The paved lot now being marketed asÂ 1818 Washington Ave. (across Silver St. from thatÂ recently recolonizedÂ cluster of ex-nightclub buildings, and bookended to theÂ east byÂ the former bakery now housingÂ B&B Butchers)Â appears to beÂ marked for some higher purposes, per recently released leasing materials for the property. Plans on Lovett Commercial’s flier for the site showÂ 2 structures (rendered above as things might look fromÂ Washington Ave., facing towardÂ Tacodeli) that pretty much fill up theÂ whole piece of landÂ — but fear not, parking-requirement hawks! The land directly north of the property, aÂ 2-block elongated space nestled mostly between Center St. andÂ aÂ stretch ofÂ Union Pacific railroad, is marked up to become a 4-plus-acreÂ surface lot, with room for 542 cars or so; that’d likely more than make up for the parking spaces that B&B would lose, too.

That’s the apparent plan for now, anyway — the flier does point outÂ that some kind of garage structure is probably on the table for later on. As for the yet-unbuilt spaces for lease:Â The site plans show an L-shapedÂ 2-storyÂ building,Â plus a smaller, squatterÂ freestanding restaurant spaceÂ tucked back along the corner of Silver and Center. The larger structure has spots marked off for a couple of upstairs patios,Â as well as office use:Â

Parking Restructure

77007, Development Patterns, Parking, Parking-Lots, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail, Washington Ave.

Bars and Clubs

05/23/17 1:00pm

America Gardens, Small Bouquet of Other Upstate Restaurants To Be Planted in Midtown

Midtown, Restaurants

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The Dallas-based real estate and restaurant developers at Syn Hospitality Group are hoping to haveÂ a Houston branch of flag-slathered bar and restaurant America GardensÂ open later this year (as rendered above), part of theirÂ in-the-works Midtown Common development over on Caroline St. just north of McGowen. The group went after some early city approvals earlier this year to bundle together a handful of property parcels on the block into the edgyÂ unreserved shape shown above. That footprint, mostly sticking along Caroline but stretching across to claim a bit of frontage on Austin St. as well, leavesÂ out the buildings occupied by Core Church Midtown, which is squeezed between the auto and auto accessoryÂ pairingÂ ofÂ Fast Traffic Auto Work and Austin Radio and Speedometer.Â

The group has released a few renderings of the first planned restaurant’s red-white-and-blue-bedecked interior, as well as its large outdoor patio:

Dallas Comes to Austin St.

77004, Bars and Clubs, Bars and Restaurants, Development Patterns, Midtown, New Construction, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Restaurants

Bankruptcies

05/18/17 4:00pm

Hunky Dory and Bernadine’s Are Shutting Down Next Week After All

Bankruptcies, Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

Houston Heights, Quicklink, Restaurants

9 Comments

HUNKY DORY AND BERNADINE’S ARE SHUTTING DOWN NEXT WEEK AFTER ALL The scandal– andÂ bankruptcy-embroiled Treadsack GroupÂ just announced thatÂ both Hunky Dory Tavern andÂ Bernadine’s are closing next week.Â After the company announcedÂ in late March that both restaurants would stay open for the time being, the last day ofÂ action for each is now set asÂ May 24th.Â The expanding group of Killen’s meat vendorsÂ announced on Monday that it had snagged Bernadine’s chef Graham Laborde (who stepped inÂ to run Hunky Dory’s kitchen too,Â after Richard Knight left in February). No relatedÂ updatesÂ fromÂ also-in-Chapter-11 Down House, or any of the other restaurants in the group. [Previously on Swamplot]Â Photo: Hunky Dory

05/17/17 11:30am

Galleria’s Philip Johnson Facade Facelift Now Clearing the Nosejob Stage

Galleria, Renovations, Restaurants, Retail

10 Comments

Now hanging in theÂ newly remodeled central nookÂ on the Galleria’s curved facadeÂ along Westheimer Rd.: these strips ofÂ hexagonal rings spotted early last week by a passing bus rider.Â (That curved wallÂ isÂ whereÂ Saks Fifth Avenue used to be, before theÂ storeÂ scooted into theÂ boxy new building next door.) The rendering up top was released last fall, around the time Simon Properties confirmedÂ that Nobu and Fig & Olive would be taking up 2 of the 4 restaurant spaces shown.

For comparison, here’s what the entry through the Philip Johnson-designed facadeÂ looked like as of last August, after the new windows had been cut (but before the top edge of the facade gotÂ trimmed off):Â

Westheimer Faceoff

77056, Architecture, Galleria, Galleria Mall, Malls, Redevelopment, Remodeling, Restaurants, Retail

Downtown

05/15/17 10:15am

Downtown To Get A Second Food Hall, This Time Above Ground

Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail

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DOWNTOWN TO GET A SECOND FOOD HALL, THIS TIME ABOVE GROUND The former Gulf Oil building at 712 Main St. (now the JPMorgan Chase bulding, currently getting made over along with its nextdoor companion-in-rebranding as The Jones on Main)Â will get a new food hall,Â a rep from Lionstone announced last week. Greg MoragoÂ reports in the Chronicle that Midway and Lionstone are still seeking vendorsÂ for the space (and that the current name, The Food Hall on Main, will probably change). The hallÂ will take up about 20,000 sq. ft. of the Chase building’s lobby, making it about 3 times larger than the leafyÂ Conservatory that openedÂ last spring some 2 blocksÂ awayÂ — one of the few parts of Downtown’s underground food scene open after daytime business hours.Â The revamp to the pair of buildings will also include an art deco cocktail lounge. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo of 712 Main St.: elnina via Swamplot Flickr pool

77002, Downtown, Food Courts, Restaurants

Buildings for Lease

05/11/17 5:30pm

Is Tila’s Restaurante Headed the Way of Teala’s Mexican Restaurant at the Shepherd Curve?

Restaurants

2 Comments

The triangle of land holding Tila’s RestauranteÂ & Bar has aÂ for lease sign up these days, a reader tells Swamplot. That’s backed up by a listingÂ currently up on the Wulfe & Co. website, though there’s no particular availability date mentioned in the leasing noticeÂ for theÂ land. The restaurant sits on the irregular block created by the Shepherd Dr. curve between McDuffie andÂ Â and NewhouseÂ streets: