Tag: Strip Centers

Featured Posts
01/09/14 12:30pm

Mysterious ‘Odor Beyond Our Control’ Forces Closure of Strip Center Chinese Restaurant in Spring

by
Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Spring
11 Comments

Koya Asian Kitchen, 2111 Spring Cypress Rd. Unit 900, Spring, Texas

A curious 2-month-old “growing sewage odor” has forced 2-and-a-half-month-old Koya Asian Kitchen to announce that the restaurant will shut its doors forever, its owner claims. Before coming to the decision, owner Lisa Zhou says she employed a sequence of smell-be-gone techniques, including lighting scented candles, deploying a phalanx of air fresheners, and even opening the doors of the Szechuan establishment in a brand-new strip center at the corner of Spring Cypress and Old Holzwarth Rd., across from H-E-B. “In the end,” writes Zhou in a Facebook post published yesterday, “none has been effective against the horrendous smell.”

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Sniff, Sniff
, , , , ,
Demolitions
12/13/13 1:15pm

Clearing the Strip Center at the Galleria’s West End for the New Hyatt Regency

by
Galleria, Hotels, New Construction
No Comments

Construction at Galleria Plaza, Sage Rd. at West Alabama St., Galleria, Houston

A fence is up and some demo work appears to be beginning at Galleria Plaza, across Sage Rd. from Galleria III. The mixed-use site, which stretches between Westheimer and West Alabama, is indeed the planned location of the new Hyatt Regency hotel that Swamplot reported on last month. The 14-story hotel, which was designed by Gensler and is being developed by Songy Highroads and the Carlyle Group, will fit into the surface parking lot at the northwest corner of Sage and West Alabama shown here:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Making Rooms
, , , , , , ,
Featured Posts
11/20/13 10:15am

Apartments and Retail for Westheimer and Montrose Corner? Not Until Half Price Books and Spec’s Scoot

by
Houston Landmarks, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Redevelopment, Retail, Strip Centers
16 Comments

APARTMENTS AND RETAIL FOR WESTHEIMER AND MONTROSE CORNER? NOT UNTIL HALF PRICE BOOKS AND SPEC’S SCOOT Half Price Books in Westmont Shopping Center, 1011 Westheimer Rd., Montrose, HoustonThe owner of the once-Art Deco but now slathered-with-stucco shopping center at the southwest corner of Westheimer and Montrose says it’s willing to wait 7 to 10 years for the center’s leases to run out before building something new on the site. Unless, of course, they can negotiate an early exit (or time-out while construction takes place) for the Half Price Books, Spec’s, Papa Johns, 3-6-9 China Bistro and Jack in the Box currently on the site. If they can’t buy out the tenants, PM Realty’s Wade Bolin tells Shaina Zucker, they’ll start leasing out the still-vacant spaces in the former Tower Community Center, which the company calls the Westmont Shopping Center. “PM Realty Group did not share early design plans,” Zucker adds, “but several sources confirmed the mixed-use structure could include residential with retail on the ground floor.” [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot] Photo: PM Realty

, , , , , , ,
Proposed Developments
11/01/13 10:15am

The Hot Bagel Shop’s Strip Center Future

by
Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
13 Comments

A reader writes in with the latest potential future scenario for the Hot Bagel Shop on S. Shepherd south of Welch: “I’m not sure if this has already been reported on, but [earlier this week] at Hot Bagel Shop, I was told that the lot next door is being scraped for the first half of a new strip center, which the bagel-ers and the nail people will move into once it’s complete. The gold retailer will not be renewing his lease. Afterwards they’ll knock down the existing building and construct the other half of the new building.”

This design for a strip center at 2015 S. Shepherd is featured on the website of Houston’s Dang La Architecture:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , ,
Apartments
09/23/13 11:05am

A First Look at the Strip Center-and-Apartments Combo That Could Go Up Between UH and TSU

by
Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Public Transportation, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail, Strip Centers, Third Ward, TSU, University of Houston
44 Comments

Here’s a plan that looks to plug in to Metro’s still-under-construction Southeast Line and redo about 8 blocks along Scott St. in the Third Ward between UH and TSU. Though the plan, drawn up by LAI Design Group and dubbed “University Place Redevelopment,” is provisional, it appears to have in mind something like what the rendering above shows: A reshaped streetscape on Scott St. that would combine apartments, restaurants, shops, offices, and community buildings.

The first phase appears to call for a strip center facing Scott between Holman and Reeves, with 289 1- and 2-bedroom apartments and a parking garage in the rear:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , , ,
Idylwood
08/19/13 3:00pm

Non-Walmart Do-Nuts in Idylwood

by
Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Strip Centers
6 Comments

Maybe attracted by the gravitational pull of the hulking 185,000-sq.-ft. Idylwood Walmart going up on the other side of S. Wayside Dr., Shipley Do-Nuts is moving into this strip center. This location is about 2 miles closer in than the one near HCC Southeast, also on the northbound Gulf Fwy. feeder.

Photo: Allyn West

, , , , , ,
Uncategorized
08/02/13 12:00pm

Museum Park Strip Center Catches Fire

by
8 Comments

This big blaze early this morning destroyed much of the strip center on the 1500 block of Blodgett, where Gallery Jatad just opened back in June and catty-corner from the proposed site of 4 new Urban Living townhomes. According to the abc13 report, the fire sparked in the washateria on the west end of the strip center and burned east toward an about-to-open custom furniture shop and the art gallery, both of which appear to have sustained some water and smoke damage.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , ,
Demolitions
06/18/13 11:00am

Morningside Thai Moves Away from Morningside, Where a Motel Crotch Frames Townhomes Frames

by
New Construction, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Strip Centers, Townhomes, University Place
7 Comments

First things first: Here’s the new location of Morningside Thai. Hoping to open June 22, says owner Ying Roberts, the no-longer-on-Morningside, no-longer-eponymous restaurant can be found at 2473 S. Braeswood Blvd., inside the Kirby Glen Retail Center, north of OST, right where the South Main neighborhood bumps into University Place. Got that? Of course, the Braeswood address might be a tad misleading in this case, since the restaurant actually faces Kirby Dr.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , , ,
Avondale
04/05/13 11:30am

Westheimer Bootmakers To Reopen Shop a Few Blocks West on Westheimer

by
Commercial Real Estate, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail, Strip Centers
3 Comments

This photo of the strip center just west of the Lower Westheimer restaurant row shows the recently closed Tejas Custom Boots and Hollywood Food & Cigars. A Swamplot reader says that a sign posted in the window here at Helen and 208 Westheimer says that the alligator- and ostrich-unfriendly bootmakers will be moving the stretching and stitching operations farther west to the 400 block of Westheimer. As of Friday morning, calls to Tejas Custom Boots for comment about the relocation and reopening haven’t been returned. City records show that the 4,100-sq.-ft. 1960 building and 11,322-sq.-ft. property are owned by a single family.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

, , , , , ,
Northside
04/01/13 2:00pm

Alamo Tamales Now Serving in the Northside

by
Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Strip Centers
No Comments

And it looks like the Alamo is standing on its own again: Previously demolished, Alamo Tamales re-appeared last summer as nothing but leaning walls and steel rods, but it re-opened with a stalwart uprightness on Berry Rd. on Friday. Architect Tim Cisneros of Cisneros Design Studio sends the photo of the restaurant’s finished facade sandwiched between a dessert bar and cantina in the 21,000-sq.-ft. Northside strip center west of Irvington Blvd.

Photos: Cisneros Design Studio

, , , , ,
Comments
03/25/13 1:30pm

Comment of the Day: The Strip Center Mandate

by
Quicklink, Retail, Strip Centers
7 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE STRIP CENTER MANDATE “Wait, so there’s no nail salon now? Is that legal? I thought that municipal laws required all strip centers of a certain size to have tax prep, a dry cleaner, a nail salon, and a coffee shop/ice cream parlor/yogurt bar.” [Sihaya, commenting on Telephone Road’s New Sweet and Sweat Shops]

, ,
Buying and Selling
02/20/13 4:15pm

Office Monopoly

by
Commercial Real Estate, Franchises and Chain Stores, Quicklink, Strip Centers
8 Comments

OFFICE MONOPOLY Note: Story has been updated. Houston Business Journal reports that Office Max and Office Depot are combining into one global office force to be reckoned with. The $1.17-billion, all-stock deal between the two big-box paper pushers is expected to create a single company — with less overhead and less overlap, too, you’d think — that’s worth $18 billion. Also, the Houston Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff reports that developer Ed Wulfe says that “9 or 10 of the 40 Office Depots and 19 Office Maxes in greater Houston are close enough to each other that one will have to close.” One of those, pictured here, is located in the strip center at Richmond and Kirby. [Houston Business Journal; Prime Property] Photo: Panoramio user Wolfgang Houston

, , , , ,
Openings and Closings
02/08/13 11:35am

Swingers Club Opening Soon in I-10 Strip Center

by
Retail, Strip Centers, Town and Country Village
6 Comments

Sharing Benignus Plaza with Jason’s Deli, Texas State Optical, and a salon, this 2,500-sq.-ft. suite at 10321 Katy Freeway will be the first Club Champion store in Texas. The Chicago-based company sells custom golf clubs built to fit, and it provides a demo space for practice. Sitting just east of Town & Country Village, the Benignus Plaza store will be almost directly across I-10 from Hicks Ventures’ proposed Block 10 West Office Park.

Photos: Swamplot inbox

, , , , , ,
Buildings for Sale
12/10/12 2:06pm

Yale St. Grill Says It’s Unlikely To Be Bothered by Building Sale

by
Houston Heights, Restaurants, Strip Centers
16 Comments

The proto-strip center that houses Yale St. Grill in the Heights went up for sale earlier this month, but Barbara Guidry, who’s been the vintage-y diner’s manager for 30 years, doesn’t expect any changes: “[The building’s] been sold before,” she tells Swamplot, “but this is like an institution.” The 1952 building has been listed at just under $3.2 million. The restaurant shares the 18,000-sq.-ft. structure — located a couple blocks north of the 19th St. shopping district — with Heights Antiques and Dr. Ullman, an optometrist. All 3 are long-term tenants on triple-net leases. Guidry says, “No, this place is a gold mine.”

Photo: Flickr user jgeo

, , , ,
Buying and Selling
10/19/12 3:19pm

The Park-and-Apartments Plan for Midtown’s Superblock

by
Midtown, Parks, Proposed Developments
28 Comments

The conquest of a long strip of land between Travis and Main known as the Midtown Superblock was completed last month, Shaina Zucker reports in today’s Houston Business Journal. The strip center at the corner of Travis and Anita once known as Liberty Square, and more recently for tenants Escobar and the Thien An sandwich shop, was sold to the Midtown Redevelopment Authority in September. Escobar, Thien An, and a second nightclub in the building will have until the end of the year to scram. The TIRZ plans to swap the land under the strip center with Camden Property Trust, in return for a couple of properties at the northern end of the same superblock.

That’ll give the Midtown authority a tiny bit less than 3 acres of land facing McGowen St., leaving Camden with the superblock’s slightly larger southern portion. The organization plans to build a park on its end — but one that includes 8,500 sq. ft. of retail space and 250 underground parking spaces, according to Zucker:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , , ,
« Previous Page Next Page »