SPACE MONTROSE SELLING STUFF TO FUND NEW MONTROSE SPACE TO SELL STUFF 
The Examiner reports that Space Montrose’s 200-ft. relocation to that new retail center at the corner of Westheimer and Dunlavy where pastry chef Roy Shvartzapel is planning a café is requiring some serious dough: a $10,000 buildout, including installing from scratch plumbing, wiring, and HVAC systems in the 1,200-sq.-ft. “cold shell.” How’s a small-scale, husband-and-wife Montrose boutique that sells locally made arts and crafts supposed to pay for something like that? Why, selling locally made arts and crafts: “Owner Leila Peraza is starting an Indiegogo campaign,” reports Sarah Tucker. “[She’s] still in the process of setting up . . . ‘Our hands, united hearts,’ but plans to have different gifts for different levels of donors, such as T-shirts and artist-donated work. She also plans to incorporate the mural by artist Katharine Kearns at the front of the store into the fundraiser and new store space as a thank you.” [The Examiner; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West
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Tag: Retail
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHERE TO PUT A TOURIST GAUNTLET IN RELIANT PARK “I’d leave the rail right where it is. Create a City Walk space from the light rail to the Dome. Shopping, night life, restaurants, movies, etc. Sure it’s touristy, but most events at Reliant are visited by tourists.” [Thomas, commenting on Under Plan, Astrodome Would Slim Down Exterior, Shorten Up and Fatten Inside]
KICKING OUT THE OLDIES ON WESTHEIMER 
Just a few weeks after a fire took out one resale shop in Montrose, Culturemap reporter Whitney Radley has noticed that another, BJ Oldies and Antiques just a few doors down, is for lease. Radley seems to suspect that this old watch-your-step reliquary is being booted out for yet another new Westheimer restaurant. Whether the foodies are coming won’t be determined until August, though, when antiquarian owner Becky Pieniadz ups and leaves for her new location just down the road at 1726 Westheimer, joining those like-minded retailers next to Empire Café. Still, Pieniadz doesn’t seem thrilled about having to vacate the 8,600-sq.-ft. building where she’s been since 2008 and box all that %&$# up: “The last thing I wanted was to move out of here.” [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Flickr user emilycovey
APPLIED TECHNOLOGY AT UH’S NEW COFFEE NOOK 
A pair of University of Houston alums will be running a coffee shop and wine bar out of this new retail center in the cranny of Calhoun Rd. and Spur 5. The Nook, they’re calling it, will open July 15, reports The Daily Cougar, with more student-friendly hours, staying open until midnight — even on school nights. And there will also be a kind of caffeine-expediting service well suited to a spread-out campus that can require some serious between-classes hoofing: “‘The unique piece of The Nook that we’re actually proud of is a smart phone app where you can actually order your coffee the way you like it. You tell us when you’ll show up, you pay with your credit card and come to the pick-up counter and pick it up,’ Shaw said. ‘Anything on the menu, except for alcohol, can be ordered on the phone app.’†[The Daily Cougar; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West
It looks like the 10.53 acres behind this sign where the Spring Branch RoomStore stands have been fosoldale, and the buyer has said it plans to build some rental townhomes. Broker David Littwitz says that the RoomStore here at 1009 Brittmoore Rd. facing the Katy Fwy. closed about a year ago, after the Richmond, Virginia, company filed for bankruptcy near the end of 2011. Real Estate Bisnow’s Catie Dixon reports that the buyer, a joint venture called Houston Texas Properties, intends to tear down the showroom to develop what they’re dubbing Arabella, desribed by Dixon as a “240-unit, upscale rental townhome community.” And they’re not wasting time: Dixon adds that the RoomStore should be coming down within the next few weeks.
- Energy Corridor Land Sells [Real Estate Bisnow]
Photo: Real Estate Bisnow
FIRE TAKES OUT WESTHEIMER RESALE SHOP 
Early this morning, a 1-alarm fire at Vintage Oasis in Montrose rendered much of the inventory destroyed and the 2-story cottage at 1512 Westheimer blackened. Culturemap reports that it’s not clear yet what caused the fire, and arson investigators have been called in. Sadly, writes Whitney Radley, the casualties include more than the boxes of used LPs and racks of other people’s trousers: “At least two tenants lived in an upstairs apartment, but no injuries were reported. However, two store cats, Puddin and Wolfie, and three cats belonging to the upstairs tenant reportedly perished in the fire.” [Culturemap] Photo: Flickr user leafy tenement
Dunkin’ Donuts announced yesterday where it’ll be sprinkling 4 new stores across Houston. This rendering shows the standalone planned for 18315 W. Lake Houston Pkwy. in Humble. There’ll also be a location inside IAH’s Terminal E, one at 4130 Fairmont Pkwy. in Pasadena, and another, as suspected, at the renovated former Arby’s at 2330 S. Shepherd and Fairview. Last month, the chain opened the first of a reported 24 stores planned for the Houston area at 10705 Westheimer in Westchase.
- Dunkin’ Donuts names next four Houston locations [Houston Business Journal]
- Previously on Swamplot: Dunkin’ Donuts Opening Next Month in Westchase Strip Center, The First Inside-the-Loop Dunkin’ Donuts?, Maybe the Westchase SmashBurger’s Successor Will Do Better, Dollars to Donuts, Dunkin’ Donuts’ Big Texas Push, Dunkin’ Donuts Coming Back to Bellaire
Rendering: Rogue Architects via Houston Business Journal
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THEY GET AROUND IN THAT PART OF TOWN “. . . Welcome to the East End, where humble homes like you are still welcome (for now). And within walking distance of both MetroRail AND Elbow and Nipple. Take a train or fix a drain.” [Dana-X, commenting on Chapter 2: The Little Gibson St. Bungalow Finds a New Home]
A plan on the website of Hnedak Bobo Group, a developer an architecture firm based in Memphis, showcases this rendering of a shiny 38-story residential tower named (for now, anyway) “Houston Luxury Apartments,” standing behind the Texaco Building at 1111 Rusk St.
This view shows the lot bound by Capitol, Fannin, San Jacinto, and Rusk, where the 13-story Texas Company Building — said to be the first major oil company headquarters in Houston — and its add-ons has stood since 1915. The few details Hnedak Bobo mentions indicates that that building would be maintained and renovated into age-appropriate apartments, as well.
And there’s more:
That excavator first rolled out here on La Branch and Binz last summer — and 11 months later this is how the site looks: Catty-corner from the Children’s Museum, the Museum Point Professional Building appears to be all but complete. The 4-story building at 1401 Binz was originally planned to be 30,000-sq.-ft., with retail on the first floor, a clinic and offices on the middle floors, and some kind of residence (“with a garden terrace”) up top. A 160-car parking garage was also planned.
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: WHEN RANDALL’S WAS SWANK “It sounds crazy nowadays but I remember back in the ′80s when this store opened up and they had valet parking under their porte cochere with valets wearing tuxedoes. We were very impressed by the little restaurant inside, too. It was so ritzy! Sad to see the prosperity all gone now.” [AW, commenting on Yes, the Voss Rd. Randall’s Is Closing]
A pair of Swamplot readers, employees at Hughes Hangar across the street and Kwik Lube next door, and the Facebook page of late-night weekend jitney service Houston Wave all have heard that this building going up on Washington Ave will be a new Sonic. But a rep from the company can’t confirm the location, saying yesterday that there is nothing to add about “the specific possibility” of a Sonic here at 2720 Washington, and there doesn’t appear to be any tell-tale signage up yet.
A HEIGHTS RETAIL RESURRECTION 
The Leader is reporting that the Baptist Temple Church on Rutland and 20th St. in the Heights has sold 2 of its oldest buildings to Braun Enterprises, which says it will tear them down and replace them with less sacred spaces — that is, retail or a restaurant. If the almighty dollar has triumphed, there’s still a silver lining — or so Charlotte Aguilar suggests, reporting that the sale of the buildings — the church’s original sanctuary, built in 1912, and a larger one built in 1940 — will fund a $3 million renovation to its remaining 65,000-sq.-ft. T.C. Jester Building on 20th; a new 300-seat sanctuary will be added and classrooms and offices updated. [The Leader] Photo: Charlotte Aguilar via The Leader
HOUSTON CLUB TUNNEL TENANTS MAKING THEIR ESCAPE 
The last 2 restaurants in the tunnels underneath the 18-story former Houston Club Building on Rusk St. are preparing to get up and out of there, reports Prime Property’s Nancy Sarnoff: The below-ground Skyline Deli and KoKoro Sushi will have sold their last lunches by the end of May, in advance of what a rep from new building owner Skanska says will be “selective interior demolition and abatement.” And that demolition is about to become much less selective, adds Sarnoff, since Skanska says it’s designing an office tower for this Downtown lot bound by Rusk, Capitol, Travis, and Milam. [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Silberman Properties
Going out, coming in: It looks like the work to update this former Rice Epicurean Market at 2617 W. Holcombe into The Fresh Market is well underway. Set back in that shopping center on the southwest corner of W. Holcombe and Kirby Dr. in West University, this will be one of the 4 Rice Epicurean spots that the North Carolina chain said it would be freshening up this year; the others are on Weslayan, Tanglewood, and Memorial.
- The Fresh Market Leases Four Houston Metropolitan Area Grocery Store Locations [The Fresh Market]
- Previously on Swamplot: Rice Epicurean Giving Up the Groceries, Leasing 4 Locations to Fresh Market
Photo: Allyn West
