HERE’S YOUR RICE VILLAGE GROUND-FLOOR RETAIL 
The first tenant to open on the Morningside side of Hanover Rice Village will be Coppa Osteria, reports Eater Houston’s Darla Guillen, who pins the date in September. Coppa will be run by the folks who bring you Ibiza, Brasserie 19, and Coppa Ristorante Italiano, a fact that strikes Guillen as emblematic of a pattern in Houston’s culinary scene: “It seems like many upscale restaurants feel compelled to open the cool little brother to their high-end establishments.” At any rate, Coppa appears to have a cool walk-thru pizza window and cool neon signage. At 5210 Morningside and Dunstan, it’s right across the street from the site of the old Garden Gate, where Hanover is planning to build that 12-story tower with no ground-floor retail. Also coming soon to the Morningside side? Chef Chris Leung’s Cloud 10 Creamery, the signage for which has been strung up right next door. [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West
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Tag: Retail
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW WE’RE REMAKING THE INNER LOOP 
“Can we just rename the Washington Ave area ‘Little suburbia’? It’s got a Target, Walmart, sonic, Kwik Kar, Chilis, Chick-fil-a, mega-Kroger, Petsmart, a McDonalds, 4 chain sandwich shops, 2 chain burrito places, and both an IHOP AND Denny’s. All pretty much off of a major 8 lane highway. Put a Best Buy & Bed Bath and Beyond and I’m pretty sure it would be a clean sweep. The only difference being that in the suburbs, the city of Houston doesn’t hand out money to build these kind of stores . . . oh wait . . . .” [DNAguy, commenting on Headlines: Dancing in Midtown; Drinking at UH] Illustration: Lulu
Plans for what is to come to the master-planned, eco-minded Springwoods Village were revealed yesterday; this rendering shows the Town Center, to be located in this 1,800-acre development near the Grand Pkwy. and I-45, just a few miles south of the new ExxonMobil campus. What’s gonna be here? At first, anyway? 250 apartments — with ground-floor retail; 100,000 sq. ft. of other retail; a hotel; office space (including the brand-new Southwestern Energy HQ); stranded kayakers; and a bunch of hiking trails that encircle the Town Lake.
A buildout of the old Wolf Camera spot in Rice Village has fixed up this strip-center suite at 2526 Rice Blvd. into a franchise of The Boardroom, which says it provides “a relaxed grooming experience for men.” That experience here includes — besides the little flourish of authenticity that is that barber’s pole — waxes, hot lather shaves, massages, and color treatments. This 3rd 2nd Houston location opened about a week ago; there’s one in Highland Village and another up in The Woodlands. Inside, polished wood floors and finishes and a pool table imply the sophistication of these upper-management-level proceedings; a trim of the power beard will set you back $12; a haircut $40.
- Salon for Men [The Boardroom]
- Previously on Swamplot: Camera Stores Crying Wolf, Camera Stores Shuttered, Wolf Sheepish About Closings
Photo: Allyn West
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WOULD GROUND FLOOR RETAIL WORK IN THE RICE VILLAGE? 
“If you follow many of the comments on this board, it’s become kind of an inside joke here that everything should have first floor retail. If there was an article about a cemetery, someone here would post that it should have first floor retail.
That said, I don’t know of many other locations in this city that would be more suitable for first floor retail than this one. It’s already an established shopping district, and the building is actually replacing some retail. I’m not a developer, but I would think that in a high density location like this one, retail leases would be a net financial benefit, with a higher $ amount per square foot, and lease terms much longer than the typical 6 or 12 month residential lease. However, there’s two arguments I can think of on why they have chosen not to go the retail route. First, would any new retail businesses be subject to our city’s minimum parking regulations? If so, providing garage space would have a negative impact on costs. Second, perhaps if the plan by Hanover is to convert these to condos in the next 5 years, then retail would not be a net benefit.” [ShadyHeightster, commenting on What Hanover Might Be Building Next in the Rice Village] Illustration: Lulu
The Woodway store is closing, Whole Foods announced yesterday, and the grocer plans to build a new one on the site of the recently closed and approved-for-demolition Flagship Randall’s at 1407 S. Voss near San Felipe. That’s right across the street from the brand-new Trader Joe’s. A Whole Foods rep says that new store will be 40,000 sq. ft., double the size of the store at 6401 Woodway that’s been there since 1983.
- Whole Foods on Woodway is moving to a much bigger space on South Voss [Prime Property]
- Previously on Swamplot: Daily Demolition Report: Out of Groceries, What Houston’s Grocer Growth Might Mean for Randall’s, Yes, the Voss Rd. Randall’s Is Closing, Pix of Trader Joe’s Lonely Voss and San Felipe Landing Site, Sure Looks Like a Trader Joe’s is Headed for Voss and San Felipe
Photo of Flagship Randall’s: Allyn West
A reader sends Swamplot what appears to be the first rendering of the Gensler-designed International Tower: What has been tentatively described as a 41-story, 750,000-sq.-ft. office building, developed by Stream Realty and Essex Commercial Properties, would go up on a Linbeck-owned block Downtown that now is a surface parking lot bound by Preston, Prairie, Milam, and Travis; it’s immediately south of Market Square Park and immediately west of where Hines has said it is considering building another residential highrise. The reader adds that the first 2 floors of the new tower would be devoted to retail and what appears to be a restaurant; construction could begin as early as next year.
- 50-story International Tower by Stream/Essex [HAIF]
- Houston’s downtown skyline to be reshaped [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Project aims at ultra-rich wanting to live smaller [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Previously on Swamplot: Hines Interested in Building Residential Tower on Downtown Block Near Market Square Park
Image: Gensler
WHAT HOUSTON’S GROCER GROWTH MIGHT MEAN FOR RANDALL’S 
Real Estate Bisnow predicts that in the next year and a half as many as 60 new retail centers anchored by grocery stores will pop up in the Houston area. And not only are the stores proliferating, reports Catie Dixon, they’re getting larger: Many of these new buildings will balloon to 100,000 sq. ft. While national chains like Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Sprouts, and Fresh Market are being introduced to Houston, regional ones like H-E-B are expanding. Of course, adds Dixon, this means that there might be a loser: “Baker Katz/X Team International partner Jason Baker [says that] all this grocer competition will cause fallout — for example, he tells us there’s a strong rumor that Randall’s won’t be around much longer.” [Real Estate Bisnow; previously on Swamplot] Photo of closed Flagship Randall’s at 1407 S. Voss Rd.: Allyn West
Here’s another of the occasional photos a reader sends of the construction progress of the Whole Foods at the mixed-use BLVD Place just north of the Galleria. Thanks to the photos that span almost a year now, you can watch the development develop here at the intersection of San Felipe and Post Oak Blvd.: Witness the preliminary site work beginning last August to the installation of piers and rebar in October and the rising of the parking structure in February. So what else is new? That parking structure appears just about ready, and even more dirt has been moved around — where those cars are parked in the foreground — for the proposed Hanover apartment tower.
- BLVD Place coverage [Swamplot]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
FILLING THE DONUT HOLE IN RIVER OAKS 
A few weeks ago the doors and drive-thru window of this new donut shop in River Oaks owned by billionaires Jeff and Mindy Hildebrand were flung open, and the tony feel of the scaled-up endcap at 3601 Westheimer has apparently won the affection of Houstonia’s Annabel Massey: “Never before have I walked in to a donut shop to find beautiful countertops made of marble, artwork by Lorri Honeycutt, or a display of delicious taste-testers in the form of donut holes for me to pop into my mouth as I wait in line.” Massey also seems taken with the Hildebrands’ rigorous recipe development: “Every afternoon, nine boxes of donuts would be delivered . . . . Mindy distributed them to family and friends, looking to get feedback on their work-in-progress. After three months of taste-testing, they finally landed on a delicious one-of-a-kind recipe.” [Houstonia] Photo: Allyn West
You’ve got to make some divots before you can start replacing them: Construction will begin this week in Spring on another TopGolf in Houston. This 65,000-sq.-ft. bar, event venue, and aim-required golfing alley will be located on almost 11 acres at 560 Spring Park Blvd., a few miles south on I-45 of the coming-along-now ExxonMobil campus. In December, TopGolf opened its first Houston location at 1030 Memorial Brook Blvd. You can see more renderings of what to expect after the jump.
NEW INWOOD YES PREP SAYS NO TO NEXT-DOOR LOAN STORE 
Calculating interest must not be part of the curriculum: The Leader reports that this vacant Kroger in the shopping center at W. Tidwell and Antoine is being renovated into a YES Prep School, with an inaugural class of sixth-graders ready to file in this August. But ACE Cash Express, the former grocery store’s next-door neighbor at 5616 W. Tidwell, seems to have become suddenly unwelcome, as a YES Prep rep explains: “’We’re worried that the activity there isn’t really compatible with a school, and we have some definite safety concerns. We’re hoping we can get them to relocate. If they don’t, we think their presence could have a negative impact on our ability to have students stay late on campus.’†[The Leader] Photo: Michael Sudhalter
HOUSTON PHOTOGRAPHERS DABBLE IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTS 
You might have seen this old ’78 VW Bus parked outside a wedding or festival, but apparently it’s not one of those vans your teachers warned you about: A pair of Houston photographers restored it into a mobile photo booth that’s been shooting around town since April. Houstonia’s Annabel Massey writes that PhotoMoto costs to rent about as much as a studio that can’t pull right up to your party — and this one has a few other material advantages too: “[Owners Brittany and Austin Havican] have recently added an airbag suspension, enabling the van to lift up and down. Brittany calls this the ‘baller aspect.’ . . . They also stuffed the van with props for their (potentially drunk) clientele: sparkly tiaras, feathered head-pieces, hats, and wigs.” [Houstonia Magazine] Photo: PhotoMoto
MONTROSE ART COLLECTIVE TO HAVE SEX CHANGE BEFORE REPLACING DOMY BOOKS 
Culturemap is reporting that Westheimer Rd. purveyors of fine comics and doodads Domy Books will be closing July 14. Apparently, building owner Dan Fergus (who also owns Brasil next door and the smaller building next to that that Space Montrose is trying to raise money to leave) has already secured a new tenant: Cody Ledvina, the painter of weiner dogs and poolside cats and co-founder of Montrose art and performance whatchamacallit the Joanna. And though it seems this relocating incarnation will be undergoing gender reassignment to become the Brandon, Ledvina says that that won’t alter the quality of what goes on there: “The programming, as far as the art goes, will be basically the exact same. Not any more refined or professional.” [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Larami Culbertson
Where’s Mini? A reader sends this photo of the burned rubber sticking to the stucco wall of design and furniture store Internum at 3303 Kirby Dr., where the 350-lb. promotional fiberglass shell of a Mini Cooper had been not-quite-parallel parked since December. And parked illegally — at first, anyway, garnering a red tag on December 27 from city inspectors to go with that red holiday garland wrapped around the Upper Kirby street lamps.
- Houston Issues Ticket To A Car Parked On A Wall [Jalopnik]
- Previously on Swamplot: Mini Cooper Parked on Kirby Store Wall Now Permitted, The Mini Cooper Parked on Kirby That’s Getting All the Attention,Parked High on the Wall of Kirby Building, Mini Cooper Still Gets Ticket
Photos: Lisa Garvin (Mini); Creative Accidents (wall)
