Tag: Retail

Commercial Real Estate
10/18/11 2:53pm

Studemont Kroger Would Break on Through to the Still Industrial Side

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First Ward, Proposed Developments, Retail
24 Comments

The Heights Life passes on drawings and details of the new Kroger grocery store and gas station planned for the former industrial property between Arne’s Warehouse and Party Store and I-10 at 1400 Studemont St. — from notes taken by a Super Neighborhood 22 representative who met with Kroger reps and council member Ed Gonzalez. Though at a planned 79,087 sq. ft. the store would be about 10,000 sq. ft. smaller than the recently renovated Heights store on 11th St. and Shepherd, it’ll look quite similar. The most interesting part of the site plan is the proposed connection of Hicks St., which turns off of Studemont south of the new store, to Summer St., which dead-ends into a parking lot currently filled with the heads of ex-Presidents, just south of the Sawyer Heights Target:

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Old Sixth Ward
10/17/11 10:41am

Studemont Kroger Aims for a City Tax Deal

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Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Retail, Taxes
39 Comments

STUDEMONT KROGER AIMS FOR A CITY TAX DEAL A couple of news bits about the new grocery store Kroger is planning for an 8.5-acre site it purchased in February at 1400 Studemont, just south of I-10 and just north of the Arne’s Warehouse and Party Store: It’ll measure 79,000 sq. ft., and will have a gas station. Plus, Chris Moran reports, Houston’s city council will consider sales and property tax reimbursements to the company of as much as $2.5 million. The proposed deal would require the company to create 170 jobs at the location for 13 years and donate $40,000 for improvements to Olivewood Cemetery across the street. [Houston Politics; previously on Swamplot]

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Apartments
10/12/11 1:56pm

New Midtown Apartment Building Hopes To Extend the Calais’ “Headlights on the Street” Safety Formula

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Midtown, Parking, Proposed Developments
10 Comments

A new 6-story apartment building is being planned for the now-cleared Midtown block surrounded by Elgin, Smith, Rosalie, and Louisiana streets — one block north of the Calais at Courtland Square apartment complex and a block west of High Fashion Fabrics. A variance request for the 147-unit building doesn’t name the developer or show any renderings, but indicates that the bottom 2 stories of the building will consist of a parking garage, topped by 4 floors of apartments wrapped around an interior courtyard.

That’s similar to the configuration of some sections of the Calais — notably the dramatic arched streetfront along Smith St. (shown in the photo above), which contributes a dynamic tableau of headlights, bumpers, license plates, and the occasional hood ornament to passersby at street level. (The view changes daily.) The developers of this new apartment building are looking to recreate some of that Calais streetside magic, according to the variance:

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New Construction
10/07/11 12:45pm

New Yale St. Strip Center Gets Jump on Washington Heights Walmart and Friends

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Retail, Sprawl, Strip Centers, West End
45 Comments

The tilt walls are already up! Those of you who’ve been eagerly awaiting the strip-center-themed revival of Yale and Heights Blvd. south of I-10: here are your signs of progress, snapped just yesterday by a Swamplot reader. No, this isn’t the new Walmart — or the Washington Heights District strip centers promised to go with them. It’s Orr Commercial‘s Heights Marketplace, a separate development facing Yale St. at Koehler — and the Walmart site across the street — beating everyone to the punch. Opening dates for Lovett Dental, Wahoo Fish Tacos, the Loan Depot, and more: next March.

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Galleria
10/04/11 3:23pm

Tesla Electric Car Dealership Coming to the Galleria

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Malls, Openings and Closings, Retail
9 Comments

Silicon Valley automotive startup Tesla Motors plans to open a Houston dealership for the company’s all-electric cars within the next 60 days — in the Nordstrom wing of the Galleria. The company-operated store, inspired by Apple Stores, Starbucks, and airport frequent-flier clubs, will include samples of the company’s Model S and Roadster models that visitors will be encouraged to climb into, as well as a Design Studio for assembling and pricing an EV to your own specifications.

Photos: Tesla Motors (store in Lone Tree, Colorado); Purva Patel (Galleria)

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Buying and Selling
10/03/11 9:03am

Richmond from Lucky Burger to the Harp, Ready for Something

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Castle Court, Land Sales, Montrose, Quicklink, Retail
14 Comments

RICHMOND FROM LUCKY BURGER TO THE HARP, READY FOR SOMETHING New owners of a 50,000-sq.-ft. site at the southwest corner of Richmond and Mandell in Montrose, which includes Lucky Burger, The Harp Irish Pub, Maria Selma’s Mexican Restaurant, and Orange Bar: a partnership controlled by Braun Enterprises — the same group that bought the former Harold’s in the Heights clothing store last month. Space in the retail buildings totals more than 11,000 sq. ft. Braun tells reporter Katherine Feser his group plans to hold onto the property for now but imagines some new retail development could take place next. Leases for all 4 properties expire in 2014. [Houston Chronicle] Photo: Braun Enterprises

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Development Strategies
09/30/11 10:23am

And Now, Ladies and Germs, Please Give a Hand to the Midway Companies’ Next Development

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3 Comments

Okay, which one of you sneeze-and-greet types was the inspiration for a local real-estate development and investment firm to get into the hand sanitizer business? Yes, those little single-use rip-and-squeeze packets of B4 Hand Sanitizer you’ve seen at Eddie V’s and your favorite Sysco-supplied restaurants are the latest project of the Midway Companies, best known locally as the developers behind Town & Country Mall replacement CityCentre. Company CEO Brad Feels says it was a pre-dining encounter with an outstretched, just-sneezed-into hand that inspired him to create and market the product: “At that moment in the restaurant, I looked down and wished that there were hand sanitizers where the Sweet’N Low packets were,” he tells the HBJ‘s Allison Wollam.

The company’s next real-estate acquisition: shelf space at H-E-B and Rice Epicurean markets, where boxes of B4 packets will be stocked for sale in the next 2 weeks.

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Buildings for Lease
09/28/11 1:40pm

The Last-Ever Sale at Harold’s in the Heights Is Over

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Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Houston Heights, Modern Design, Retail
9 Comments

The new owners of the Heights building at the corner of 19th St. and Ashland that for 61 years housed the Harold’s in the Heights men’s clothing store have wasted no time in advertising the modern structure for lease or “redevelopment.” The Chronicle‘s David Kaplan reports that a partnership led by local development firm Braun Enterprises bought the property from the family of Harold Wiesenthal last week; a flyer for the 13,600-sq.-ft. property, which comes with a parking lot in back, hawks restaurant or retail space in chunks as small as 1,750 sq. ft. The glass-front building includes a 3,000-sq.-ft. second-story office space. Harold’s closed its doors for good in August.

Photo: Braun Enterprises

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Adaptive Reuse
09/26/11 5:13pm

What Would Stay and What Would Go in a Trader Joe’s Alabama Theater Clearance

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Historic Preservation, Interiors, Retail, Upper Kirby
7 Comments

Trader Joe’s hasn’t yet signed a lease for the former Alabama Theater location at 2922 S. Shepherd it’s considering for its first-ever Houston store. But the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance has scouted out a few details on what would likely stay and what would likely go in a Two Buck Chuck-ified Art Deco theater interior. Staying: the building’s mezzanine and lighting, though with “some modifications.” Going: the Shepherd-side entrance vestibule of the 1939 building, including original enameled panels and poster frames and the swirly-patterned terrazzo flooring — which is sloped too steeply to meet current ADA requirements, according to the city’s planning director. A Weingarten Realty spokesperson says current plans are to replace the terrazzo with concrete. Also, the mural shown above — which formed the right cheek of the theater’s movie screen (later the magazine section of Bookstop) — is slated for removal.

Photos: David Bush (terrazzo) and Jim Parsons (mural)

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Downtown
09/23/11 9:47am

Peeking in on Georgia’s Downtown

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Nightlife, Restaurants, Retail
3 Comments

Twitter correspondent Emily Hurst sends this from-the-train-window view of the shuttered Byrd’s Market space at 420 Main St., at the corner of Prairie, as seen this morning. The owners of Georgia’s Farm to Market — the outsize buffet venue and natural-foods grocery store in that former Kmart space on the I-10 feeder near Dairy Ashford, formerly known as Sandy’s Market — are planning to open a second location here in November. Georgia’s Downtown will include a restaurant, a small grocery store (featuring many of the same products Georgia and Rick Bost pull from their farm and ranch in Waller, their own meat-processing plant in Bellville, and other local sources), and a beer and wine bar in the building’s basement, called “The Cellar.” They’ll also be renting out the basement for events. Behind the craft paper and signs on the windows, the interior is ready for its remodel — designed by Ziegler Cooper Architects.

Photo: Emily J. Hurst

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Adaptive Reuse
09/22/11 4:44pm

Trader Joe’s Showing at the Alabama Theater: Approved

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Commercial Real Estate, Historic Preservation, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Retail, Shopping Centers, Upper Kirby
9 Comments

Changes to the exterior of the Alabama Theater proposed by Weingarten Realty to accommodate grocery store Trader Joe’s debut appearance in Houston were approved today by the city’s Archeological and Historical Commission. Because it’s a designated city landmark, the commission’s approval is required for changes to the building’s facades (though an alternate wait-90-days-and-you-can-do-whatever-you-want option is also available). Trader Joe’s or Weingarten’s plans to restore, alter, or strip the innards of the Art Deco building at 2922 S. Shepherd Dr., though, won’t require any commission approvals — only construction or demo permits.

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Critters
09/21/11 12:07pm

It’s Getting Crowded on Cypress’s Street of Dreams

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Cypress, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail, Streetscapes
3 Comments

The owner of the year-and-a-third-old Purple Elephant Gallery tells Cypress Creek Mirror reporter Rebecca Bennett of her plans to turn her stretch of McSwain St. off Kluge Rd. into an artsy “Old Town Cypress.” Already up: her backyard Iron Butterfly Studio and the thatched-roof Street of Dreams Palapa at 12802 McSwain, where hoopdancers attend Houston Spin Stars classes (above). Next, Debra Reese wants to turn a home she owns down the street into a restaurant.

“This has always been my dream, and that’s why I named it the Street of Dreams. You can make your dreams come true. You can even have a pig,” she said.

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Comments
09/20/11 11:13pm

Comment of the Day: More Experiments on Wheels, Please

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Franchises and Chain Stores, Quicklink, Retail
No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: MORE EXPERIMENTS ON WHEELS, PLEASE “so what if it’s a passing fad? i don’t see anything wrong with that. if/when the food truck era passes, we won’t be left behind with a bunch of crappy ass buildings that no one knows what to do with. if we don’t like their food or their business, we can just wheel ’em away. wish i could do that to a few mcdonald/king/fil-a/aburgers round here . . .” [cooperella, commenting on Comment of the Day: Can’t You See Where This Is Headed?]

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Commercial Real Estate
09/19/11 12:49pm

Trader Joe’s at the Alabama Theater: New Sign in Front, Cheese in Back

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Historic Preservation, Leasing, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby
39 Comments

Yes, Trader Joe’s wants to open what would likely be its first-ever Houston store at the long-vacant Alabama Theater at 2922 S. Shepherd Dr. — the vacant retail space last used as the home of the Alabama Bookstop. Nancy Sarnoff digs up the proposal for exterior alterations to the designated city landmark sent to the archeological and historical commission by shopping-center owner Weingarten Realty; the changes have already been approved by city staff. Included in the plans: Two big store signs on top of the marquee facing Shepherd . . . and a brand-new turret at the back entrance.

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Quicklink
09/19/11 8:45am

Furnished Retail Available

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Retail
No Comments

FURNISHED RETAIL AVAILABLE Reporting on the desires of several big-box retailers to shrink the size of their stores, David Kaplan notes the owners of Ashley Furniture are considering subleasing 6,000 to 15,000 sq. ft. of space in any of the company’s 9 Houston-area stores. “‘It would have to be a good fit,’ [CEO Gary] Seals said. Ashley would adapt to a smaller space by taking slower-selling merchandise off the floor, Seals said.” [Houston Chronicle] Photo: Ashley Furniture

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