Tag: Shopping Centers

Buying and Selling
11/16/10 2:51pm

Children’s Kirby Assessment: Bike Barn Site Bank and Drive-Thru

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Demolitions, Land Sales, Proposed Developments, Retail, Rice Village
9 Comments

A 2-story Frost Bank with a drive thru will take over the Kirby side of the former Village Plaza shopping center between Dunstan and Bolsover — once the demo company finishes smashing the Bike Barn, Mattress Giant, and the shells of a few other stores its been chewing on, reports the Village News. Frost bought the 35,000-sq.-ft. leftover portion of the center at 5925 Kirby earlier this month from the Children’s Assessment Center. The CAC plans to expand its Rice Village “campus” (named after attorney John M. O’Quinn) and build a parking garage on the back half of the property.

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Comments
11/10/10 3:46pm

Comment of the Day: The Shopping Center with the Most Parking Spaces Wins!

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Parking, Quicklink, Shopping Centers
13 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE SHOPPING CENTER WITH THE MOST PARKING SPACES WINS! “Reducing the number of parking spaces at this store would not encourage people to walk to get their weekly grocery shopping, it would just encourage them to drive to a different store.” [Jimbo, commenting on What the New Montrose H-E-B Is Gonna Look Like]

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Galleria
10/13/10 1:08pm

The Latest Version of the Galleria Whole Foods Market

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Parking, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail
11 Comments

That’s 3-and-a-half levels of parking artfully hidden behind the extended forehead of the new Galleria Whole Foods Market in this latest rendering being waved by the developers of Blvd Place. Also obfuscated: your view of that little mustache of strip-mall-valet-style parking in front, behind those hedges facing Post Oak. But most Whole Foods shoppers will be parking in a separate 300-car underground garage, and will feed into the store on a moving sidewalk. The parking levels above are meant to serve an additional 140,000 sq. ft. of retail, restaurants, and office space Wulfe and Co. is hoping to fill in this portion of its scaled-down redevelopment project. But so far no leases have been signed, reports the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff.

This Whole Foods has now been marked back up to 48,500 sq. ft. — about 25 percent larger than the chain’s Kirby location, but down from the 78,000 sq. ft. originally announced 4 years ago. The latest construction start date: next summer.

Rendering: Wulfe & Co.

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Openings and Closings
09/28/10 1:16pm

Fitness-Club Scavengers at the Washington Ave Crew

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Retail, Washington Corridor
21 Comments

A photo snapped at the storefront of Crew Health and Fitness at 4826 Washington Ave., in the restored shopping center between Shepherd and Durham, taken around 2:30 Sunday afternoon. Yes, the workout shop is now officially out of business. But what are all those yellow tags attached to the window? Free passes — to LA Fitness on Richmond! A tipster tells Swamplot the LA Fitness sales team heard news of Crew’s demise around 10 a.m. on Sunday: “They had representatives at the doors trying to sign people up when we went by.”

Photos: Swamplot inbox (Crew Fitness storefront) and Aaron Carpenter (West End Shopping Center)

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Leasing
09/20/10 1:44pm

Last Call for Two Rows

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Openings and Closings, Retail, Rice Village, Shopping Centers
34 Comments

Having achieved the title of “Houston’s last remaining brewpub,” Rice Village’s Two Rows is now scheduled to close at the beginning of next month. General partner Rusty Loeffler tells the Chronicle‘s Ronnie Crocker (and a tipster tells us) that Weingarten Realty was asking far more than the company was willing to spend to sign a new long-term lease for the 10,000-sq.-ft. upstairs space in the Village Arcade on University at Morningside. Now ready to move into half of that space: Jason’s Deli. Loeffler says his restaurant “may look at other locations in Houston” that’ll have room for the company’s brewing equipment.

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Openings and Closings
08/23/10 2:03pm

Where the Buffalo Grille Will Roam

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Parking, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, West University
11 Comments

The original Buffalo Grille has at last identified a fallow shopping-center slot to migrate to, about a mile southwest of its current location. The new brunch spot will be at 4080 Bissonnet, on the far western end of West U’s Montclair Shopping Center (the one with the Randalls) at Weslayan. Last seen in this location: The Candle House, next to one of those old retail storefronts for Countrywide Home Loans.

Buffalo Grille’s current building on Bissonnet at Buffalo Speedway — where it’s been for 26 years — is the only section remaining of the shopping center torn down on that site to build H-E-B’s Buffalo Market. The Buffalo Pharmacy next door to it was demolished in 2008. The following year, an H-E-B representative told West U’s city council that Buffalo Grille would stay where it was, but by this April, the grocery company politely announced that its neighbor would be looking for a new home — to open up more spaces for parking.

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Katy
08/05/10 12:29pm

Katy Main Street Looks Like a Parking Lot: Opening the Newest H-E-B

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Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers
6 Comments

A few snippets from yesterday’s grand opening of the new 88,000 sq.-ft. H-E-B at the new “Katy Main Street” shopping center at the southwest corner of I-10 and Pin Oak Rd., just west of the Katy Mills Mall: a “Texas Front Yard” at the entrance where you can pick up mulch, bug spray, and that giant parrot-like watering yardbird you were looking all over for; a solitary “Fudgie Wudgie” fresh fudge stand; a guacamole station; and H-E-Buddy giving hugs and high fives to shoppers in the produce section. This is the fourth H-E-B in Katy. It’s adjoined by a new strip center with no current tenants.

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Commercial Real Estate
08/02/10 7:24pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Potholes and Pads

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Demolitions, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Shopping Centers, Upper Kirby, Woodlake Plaza
5 Comments

Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:

Scuttlebutt on that decrepit parking lot on Richmond, plus what’s ready to pop up on the site of the Hooters on Gessner:

  • Upper Kirby: “How many professionals in kenneth cole loafers or nine west heels want to navigate lake Ponchartrain just to get to our restaurant for a meal?” asks a commenter from Yelapa Playa Mexicana, one of three restaurants sharing the potholed (and occasionally flooded) parking lot between Richmond and Portsmouth west of Greenbriar. But . . . nothing’s doing:

    We would love to force our landlord to get this mess fixed as soon as possible…any advice from anyone? We’ve been on him for the last 10 months or more (since we took the space in mid-September 09).

    Commenter marmer notes a repair job may involve significant drainage work. “Simply patching the holes won’t last long enough to be worth the trouble.” Plus, where are Yelapa, Blue Fish House, and Hobbit Café customers gonna park while the work gets done? Also left unanswered: Is the existing parking lot required to meet any drivability standards?

Next: What comes after Hooters?

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Commercial Real Estate
07/27/10 5:22pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Too Many Bumps

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Demolitions, Shopping Centers, Upper Kirby, Woodlake Plaza
27 Comments

Got an answer to any of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.

  • Upper Kirby: “I can assure you that there are some bone crunching potholes underneath the lovely puddles,” writes the reader who sent in these rain-drenched photos of the ancient, multi-layered, and pockmarked parking lot shared by 3 restaurants at 2241 Richmond, just west of Greenbriar. When it rains, the lot gets even worse, claims the reader, who wants to know why it’s so “pitiful”:

    While I can kind of understand Blue Fish and Hobbit [Café] not wanting to spend too much money on improving the parking lot since they are not high dollar places, Yelapa [Playa Mexicana] is trying to position itself as this new chic Mexican/Seafood eatery and thus I would have thought they’d care more about a customer’s initial impression.

    A related question from the same reader: “Are there any City ordinances that require a parking lot used by the public to have a certain amount of drivability?”

Next: What about the Hooters?

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Houston Heights
07/02/10 11:07pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Let Kroger Come Over

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Redevelopment, Retail, Shopping Centers
1 Comment

Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:

  • Houston Heights: Is the Kroger on 20th St. at Yale poised to take over the space next door Walgreens is vacating? Walgreens has a new building across the street under construction. Longtime reader kjb434 sees signs of redevelopment in the Weingarten-owned Heights Plaza Shopping Center the drug store chain is leaving behind: “I don’t have hard evidence, but I hear just as much from some friends in commercial real estate and from workers at the Kroger on 11th st. From what I gather, it’ll be a Signature Kroger and the Marketplace version that is currently at 11th.”

We’ll post any more reader questions we get on Tuesday. Send us what you’ve got before then!

Photo of Kroger, 239 W. 20th St.: Swamplot inbox

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Houston Heights
06/29/10 9:07am

Swamplot Street Sleuths: That Other Kroger in the Heights

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Retail, Shopping Centers
25 Comments

Got an answer to this reader question? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.

  • Houston Heights: Just one lead this time, but it should be easy enough for some of you to follow up on: Now that Walgreens is busy getting ready to snuggle up to CVS with its new standalone site going up across the street, what’s going to happen to Weingarten’s Heights Plaza Shopping Center at West 20th and Yale? A reader passes on a rumor heard from an employee at Kroger: that the grocery store is going to take over the entire shopping strip — including the soon-to-be-former Walgreens and at least some of the smaller shops facing Yale. The tip arrives with this request, which we pass off to you: “Can you do some more research on that and confirm?”

Photo of Kroger, 239 W. 20th St.: Swamplot inbox

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Comments
06/24/10 4:24pm

Comment of the Day: Valet Confidential

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Parking, Quicklink, Shopping Centers
2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: VALET CONFIDENTIAL “My first job was as a valet at a dinner club, and it was a great job. I set the policy for the lot, and I never restricted or blocked any spaces. Some people would have me park their cars even when all the front spaces were open. Others would cruise the far reaches of the lot rather than let me do it. That was OK with me. There are some good reasons not to turn your car over to a stranger – such as valuables or guns in the car or peculiarities about how the car runs. Also OK was the small percentage of non-tippers. I figured that some people mistakenly though sincerely believed that the service was complimentary by the restaurant. Others did not have the change on hand but would make it up the next time. What I hated was when the driver had a tip ready but put it back in his pocket as soon as he saw that I was not going to pressure him for it. I always ran for the cars and made it a point to remember who drove what car, so I made patrons feel important instead of turning them into claim check numbers. I am particularly offended by shopping centers that block all of the close spaces for valet service. It’s fine to provide the service for those who need or want it, but hogging the front spaces sends the message ‘We’re fancier than you, so you have to pay to get near our stores.’” [erasmus, commenting on Hooked on Valet: The Folks Scaring Away Your Strip Center Parking Spots]

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Houston Heights
06/09/10 11:15am

Heights Kroger: Okay, Now We’re Really Big

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Redevelopment, Renovations, Retail, Shopping Centers, Timbergrove Manor
77 Comments

It was only closed for a few evenings during construction, but the Merchants Park Kroger at 11th and North Shepherd in the Heights is marking today as its grand re-opening. Work on the project began 13 months ago. A new section of the store, which was expanded by 39,184 sq. ft., opened last October. Today, all the expansions and renovations on the 24-hour market are complete. Total tally: 88,988 sq. ft.

What’s new? A Starbucks with free wi-fi; a “Kitchen Place” featuring small appliances, cookware, and dinnerware; and the now-de-rigueur drive-thru pharmacy. Plus: an “open-air” seafood market, an order-on-the-computer deli kiosk, a “Cheese Shoppe” with more than 300 cheeses, and an Artisan Bread gallery that features store-made tortillas in your five favorite flavors: white, wheat, butter, salsa and cinnamon sugar.

There’s more:

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Commercial Real Estate
06/07/10 2:15pm

Waking the Mattress Giant: CAC Takes Village Plaza To Assess the Children

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Institutional Buildings, Land for Sale, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Rice Village, Shopping Centers
3 Comments

Everybody out by the end of October, the owners of the Village Plaza Shopping Center have told all remaining tenants. Fuzzy’s Pizza and City Dance Studio, of course, are long gone from the center at 5925 Kirby, a block north of Rice Blvd. The Bike Barn has already picked out more than 10,000 sq. ft. in the former Hollywood Video in Weslayan Plaza, at Bissonnet and Weslayan. Kids Kuts will cut south to Bellaire and Stella Link; the UPS Store is looking at a new place “on Bissonnet.” Ticket Stop and Susan Nail & Facial are hunting for space nearby. Mattress Giant just doesn’t want to talk about it.

The property’s owner is its eastern neighbor, the Children’s Assessment Center. A planned expansion to the John M. O’Quinn campus, which now faces Bolsover, would eat the deeper chunk of the shopping center, leaving 0.8 acres on Kirby for somebody else to develop. Here’s the part that’s toast:

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