Tag: Strip Centers

Demolitions
10/10/14 12:30pm

LA Fitness Will Flex Excavator, Scrap Westbury Centerette at Chimney Rock and Bellfort

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Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail, Westbury
33 Comments

Westbury Centerette, 10901-10925 Chimney Rock Rd. at West Bellfort, Westbury, Houston

Westbury Centerette, 10901-10925 Chimney Rock Rd. at West Bellfort, Westbury, HoustonA 38,000-sq.-ft. LA Fitness gym and health club and a larger separate multi-level parking garage are planned for the site of the Westbury Centerette, a vacant early-sixties shopping center on West Bellfort St. just east of Chimney Rock. The development would take up the entire block surrounded by West Bellfort, Chimney Rock, Cedarhurst Dr., and Moonlight Dr. — except for the AutoZone and WingStreet at the southwest corner. Plans submitted to the city show the LA Fitness backing up to Moonlight Dr. and facing a row of parking accessed from West Bellfort; the 263-space garage would sit at the corner of Chimney Rock and Cedarhurst:

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Muscle Building
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Featured Posts
10/09/14 2:00pm

Pink’s Walk-Up Washington Ave Pizza Slice Dispensing Machine Now So Close To Opening You Can Practically Smell the Pepperoni

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Strip Centers, West End
5 Comments

Pink's Pizza, 1009 Moy St., Washington Corridor, Houston

How close to opening is the Pink’s Pizza going into the former laundromat building at 1009 Moy St. off Washington Ave, a mere 14 months after construction began? Nose-to-the-window close: “There’s even beer names over the beer taps!” reports a reader who’s been monitoring the progress of the end space as well as the neighboring fitness-gear shop. The toned folks behind Below Parallel beat their pizza-facing competitors next door to the start line, opening for business at the beginning of September. Pink’s, though, still has a bit more work to do:

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Your Order in 14 Months or Bust
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Featured Posts
09/23/14 11:45am

Build-It-Yourself Burgers for the Downtown Tunnel and Feeder Road Crowds

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FM 1960, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Strip Centers
8 Comments

eT Craft Burgers & Beer, 19841 Northwest Fwy., Houston

eT Craft Burgers & Beer, 19841 Northwest Fwy., HoustonAlonti Catering has done so well with the build-your-own burger spot it’s been operating in the Downtown tunnels since 2010 that it’s taking the concept straight to a feeder-road strip center — a mere 21 miles away at the intersection of Hwy. 290 and ring road FM 1960. The new eT Craft Burgers & Beer taking the place of Kim Kim Vietnamese and Paragon Pools in the end slot at 19841 Northwest Fwy. is scheduled for an official opening this Thursday, and will feature interiors by Uchi designer Michael Hsu and the entrance to the nearby Starbucks drive-thru around back.

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FM 1960 and Underground
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Featured Posts
09/04/14 12:00pm

In Midst of Carefully Planned Restaurant Expansion, Canopy Gains Sudden Drive-Thru Addition

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Montrose, Restaurants, Strip Centers
5 Comments

Accident at Canopy Restaurant, 3939 Montrose Blvd., Montrose, Houston

Accident at Canopy Restaurant, 3939 Montrose Blvd., Montrose, HoustonAbout 3 years ago, Canopy added an actual canopy to the south side of its spot at the end of the 3939 Montrose strip center. (It required a variance from the city.) More recently, the restaurant has been busy installing a new coffee bar and bar bar in the space next door, which it’ll be expanding into. (Former neighbor Montrose Dry Cleaners relocated further north in the same center a while back.) But the latest addition proceeded much more suddenly: Yesterday afternoon, around 2:30, a customer saw fit to install a drive-thru directly in front of the restaurant, by stepping on the gas pedal while under the impression that the car was in reverse.

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Not So Fast
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Art
09/02/14 1:30pm

How That Old-Time Way-Out Houston Strip Center Spirit Might Yet Tame a Mild Row of East Downtown Townhomes

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East Downtown
11 Comments

2600 Block of Capitol St. with Signs from Veterans Memorial Dr., Houston

If you were wondering how a street-facing block of neat-in-a-row East Downtown townhomes might appear after being taken over by the opportunistic spirit exemplified by a bunch of north Houston strip-center businesses, rest your aching brain: Artist Carrie Marie Schneider has already done some of that hard a-visualizing work for you. Her mashup above combines signs from independent businesses along Veterans Memorial Dr. (the stretch between I-45 and Richey Rd.) with a row of recent townhomes on the 2600 block of Capitol St., between Live Oak and Nagle. The image, a projection of which constitutes a small part of her recently opened exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Museum, is one way to imagine a “real free-enterprise” conquest of more corporate-seeming block-by-block townhome developments. Blocks like the one pictured under all that signage “once seemed uncanny in Houston for their enforced coherence,” she writes in OffCite. “Now they’re difficult not to encounter.”

Image: Carrie Marie Schneider

Mixed Use Mashup
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Featured Posts
08/28/14 1:15pm

Space Painting Spree Turns Memorial Heights Strip Center Parking Scene into Free-for-All Once Again

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Memorial Heights, Parking, Signage, Strip Centers
6 Comments

White Stripes on Parking Spaces at Shoppes at Memorial Heights Shopping Center, 920 Studemont St., Memorial Heights, Houston

White Stripes on Parking Spaces at Shoppes at Memorial Heights Shopping Center, 920 Studemont St., Memorial Heights, HoustonWas it something you said? A couple readers have informed Swamplot that the stenciled nametags that appeared recently apportioning every single parking space in the lot in front of the Shoppes at Memorial Heights shopping center to one of the resident businesses at 920 Studewood St. have just as suddenly been covered over. Stripes of white paint have now been painted on top of the stenciled signs throughout the parking lot. Which means that next time you’re visiting Hair Desire, Absolve Wine Bar, Urban Cleaners, or (more likely, apparently) Beer Market Co., you will no longer have to check underneath or behind your car to make sure that you’ve parked in a space appropriate to your shopping-center visit.

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Here Come the White Stripes
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Featured Posts
08/21/14 1:00pm

Everyone’s Got a Space in the Parking Lot for the Shoppes at Memorial Heights

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Memorial Heights, Parking, Strip Centers
25 Comments

Parking Spaces at Shoppes at Memorial Heights Shopping Center, 920 Studemont St., Memorial Heights, Houston

Parking Spaces at Shoppes at Memorial Heights Shopping Center, 920 Studemont St., Memorial Heights, HoustonVisiting a business in the stucco-deco Shoppes at Memorial Heights and can’t figure out where to park? Don’t worry, management of the Studemont St. shopping center just south of Washington Ave has figured it all out for you. Just drive around until you see an empty space that happens to have the name of the store you’re going to spray-paint stenciled onto the parking surface. And maybe move your car before you even think about wandering into any adjacent shops, because otherwise that might cause some problems, okay?

Still confused? Recent visitor PoppyPetalled has provided a helpful diagram showing how the best principles of parking-lot planning have been applied to laying out the individual spaces assigned Happy Belly Studios, Sam’s Cafe, Beer Market Co., Absolve Wine Lounge, Sushi Tora, Urban Cleaners, Hair Desire, and other establishments at 920 Studewood St.:

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Look for the Spray Paint Stencils
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Featured Posts
08/01/14 12:30pm

Pink’s Pizza Pulling Ahead of Crossfit Gear Shop in Longstanding Wash Ave Strip Center Opening Race

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Strip Centers, Washington Ave, West End
3 Comments

Pink's Pizza, 1009 Moy St., Washington Ave., Houston

Bellow Parallel, 1009 Moy St., Suite B, Washington Ave., HoustonIt looks like workout gear store Below Parallel has missed its promised July opening date, notes the reader who’s been monitoring construction progress at the the side-standing strip center that used to house a laundromat at 1009 Moy St. on Washington Ave. How long will it be? Count the conflicting clues: The city inspector’s red tag gracing the front door in this photo (above left) from earlier in the week; the shoes already arranged on display shelves in an interior pic posted to the store’s Facebook page.

But something’s definitely cooking next door, where Pink’s Pizza has been moving in for almost an entire year, and where for many months, our tipster reports, work had appeared stalled. Signs of actual recent construction progress are present — most notably in the corner spot’s newly installed windows.

Photos: Swamplot inbox

The Pizza Racers
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Cottage Grove
07/07/14 10:45am

Seattle Ramen House Samurai Noodle Coming to Cottage Grove Strip Center

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Strip Centers
9 Comments

Future Home of Samurai Noodle Ramen Shop, Durham Shopping Center, 1801 Durham Dr. Suite 1, Cottage Grove, Houston

Future Home of Samurai Noodle Ramen Shop, Durham Shopping Center, 1801 Durham Dr. Suite 1, Cottage Grove, HoustonA source tells Swamplot that the Samurai Noodle restaurant that’s scheduled to open in the former Sprint spot in the Durham Shopping Center facing the Katy Fwy. feeder road (at center in the photo above) is in fact a first out-of-state venture for the acclaimed 3-location Seattle ramen shop of the same name. The I-10-facing spot in the strip center at 1801 Durham Dr. is wedged between Golden Hunan restaurant and the SNAP Spay-Neuter and Animal Wellness Clinic (not to be confused, we earnestly hope, with SNAP Kitchen). In Seattle, Samurai Noodle offers non-pork broth options for non-traditionalists, and allows customers to specify their preferred level of noodle firmness.

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By the Katy Feeder
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Featured Posts
06/26/14 11:15am

Where To Pick Up New CrossFit Gear While Waiting for Your Pizza on Washington Ave

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Openings and Closings, Retail, Strip Centers, Washington Ave, West End
2 Comments

Pinks Pizza and Below Parallel, 1009 Moy St., West End, Houston

Pinks Pizza and Below Parallel, 1009 Moy St., West End, HoustonThe reader who sent Swamplot a steaming hot tip late last summer — Pink’s Pizza is coming to Wash Ave! — brings us up-to-date on construction progress at the sidestreet-facing strip center at 1009 Moy St. (above) a full 10 months later: There’s been none. “Other than the signage on the building and on Washington at the front of the shopping center, there’s been no work done in months,” reads our report. One door over from the Pink’s spot in Suite B (pictured at right), however, a sign is up for Below Parallel, a new retail outlet where customers will be able to equip themselves to work off their pizza before even eating it. The banner promises shoes, supplements, and apparel —- and an opening date next month. “Strange location,” declares our tipster — the shuttered Blue Moose Lodge is around the corner — “but I guess the four Crossfit gyms in a mile radius can shop there.”

Photos: Swamplot inbox

West End Cycles
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Featured Posts
04/23/14 12:30pm

More Sugar Headed for the Sweetest Strip Center on North Shepherd

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Houston Heights, Restaurants, Retail, Strip Centers
8 Comments

Strip Center, 1901 N. Shepherd Dr., Houston Heights

For months, local ice cream shop Fat Cat Creamery has been the only business open in the recently expanded and redone strip center at the northeast corner of N. Shepherd Dr. and 19th St. (It’s over around the left side in the photo above.) But now there’s a sign up announcing that Smoothie King is headed for the spot a couple doors down from it along 19th. And there’s more to this sugar rush: It appears a donut shop is headed for a space next door to Fat Cat in the same center. A buildout for Hugs and Doughnuts, from the folks behind the H-Town StrEATs food truck, is now going on in Suite 4 of the 8,000-sq.-ft. center at 1901 N. Shepherd, a source tells Swamplot.

Photo: Re:Vive Development

Hugs and Donuts
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Featured Posts
04/11/14 12:15pm

Extremely Well Hidden Bar Off Willowbend Blvd. Now Impossible To Find

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Nightlife, Strip Centers, Willowbend
5 Comments

Vacant Strip Center, 4122 Willowbend Blvd. at Craighead Dr., Westwood, Houston

Former Carolyn's Bar at Vacant Strip Center, 4122 Willowbend Blvd. at Craighead Dr., Westwood, HoustonCarolyn’s, the dive bar at the corner of Craighead and Willowbend Blvd. across the train tracks from the Willowbend subdivision closed sometime around the end of last month, a reader notes. Back in 2008, the bar at 10711 Craighead Dr. won the Houston Press award for Best Hidden Bar. For years, Carolyn’s (pictured at right, behind the “canopy”) was the sole remaining tenant in the dilapidated but once-stylin’ classic 1959 strip center with vintage details stretched along that corner. Now, reports the reader, it appears the 18,600-sq.-ft. center is entirely empty — despite the remaining sign facing Willowbend for the Fruit of the Spirit Community Church (“Developing Fruitful Lives,” above).

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Everybody Out of the Strip Center
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Featured Posts
02/13/14 12:15pm

Hot Bagel Slabs Are Up on South Shepherd

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New Construction, Retail, River Oaks, Strip Malls
2 Comments

Construction of Shepherd Commons Strip Center, 2015 S. Shepherd Dr., Houston

Construction of Shepherd Commons Strip Center, 2015 S. Shepherd Dr., HoustonIf the panoramic photo above makes it look like these newly erected concrete tilt walls, having been boiled and baked on the ground and then propped into place, are about to envelop the 2-story strip center building to its north on S. Shepherd Dr. just south of Welch known to most as the longtime home of the Hot Bagel Shop — well that appears to be the idea. These photos were taken over the weekend. Last November, Swamplot reported on plans for Shepherd Commons, at 2015 S. Shepherd, a new 2-story replacement strip mall which Hot Bagel Shop and River Oaks Nails, according to the source, were intending to move into. After the move, it was reported, the original strip center would be knocked down and a second phase built in its place:

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Plain or Poppy?
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Apartments
01/15/14 11:00am

What You Get From Knocking Down Old Apartments and Building New Ones at Fountain View and San Felipe

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Briargrove, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail
11 Comments

Rendering of the Hudson Apartments, Fountain View at Inwood, Briargrove, Houston

Tanglewood Court Apartments, 5885 San Felipe St., HoustonFor all of you keeping score, the bounties of Briargrove-area apartment demolition should should now be clear. Arising from the site of the 634-unit courtyard-style Tanglewood Court Apartments on the almost-18-acre site on the southeast corner of San Felipe and Fountain View (knocked down last year and pictured at right), there will soon be a corner bank with drive-thru, a new 88,000-sq.-ft. H-E-B (moving west from down the street, and “modeled after” the chain’s Montrose Market), a 32,000-sq.-ft. strip center, and — announced yesterday — a new 5-story 431-unit garage-wrapping apartment block called the Hudson and featuring a reverse-Alamo-style tab (illustrated above) at the top of its garage entrance for some reason. Oh, yeah, also gained in the equation: A sea of concrete for the retail parking lot:

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What Tanglewood Webs We Weave
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Featured Posts
01/13/14 10:45am

Suchu’s GOOFy New Strip Center Home Is Where Patrick Swayze Learned To Dance

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Garden Oaks, Houston History, Leasing, Openings and Closings, Strip Centers
2 Comments

Suchu Dance, 3480 Ella Blvd., Ella Plaza Shopping Center, Oak Forest, Houston

The 1,500-sq.-ft. space deep in the crotch of the Ella Plaza Shopping Center just south of the railroad tracks at 3480 Ella Blvd. is the new home of modern dance troupe Suchu Dance. It’s also the former longtime Houston haunt of Patsy Swayze‘s Houston JazzBallet Company and the Swayze School of Dance. Long before the dance teacher made it big with her choreography for Urban Cowboy in 1980 and decamped to Hollywood, Swayze taught hundreds of gyrating Houstonians — including her 5 children, in the strip center corner. Her son Buddy, who as Patrick Swayze went on to star in Dirty Dancing and Ghost, started barging in on classes there at the age of 3, long before playing football at Waltrip High School across the street; he met his wife, Lisa Niemi, in the strip-center studio as well. He died from pancreatic cancer in 2009; his mother passed away in California’s Simi Valley last September.

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Somebody Put Baby in a Strip Center Corner
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