02/21/14 3:45pm

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2602-Washington-03-2

The 1998 transformation of a former auto shop on Washington Ave to the 9-unit Lopresti Lofts was a bit of a quirky redo. McGregor Real Estate Group gave the building a mash-up of infill materials, various porch-balcony-terrace views of downtown, and a piggyback stucco-faced addition topped by roof flaps saluting crisply above each unit (top). The amalgamation sits right across across the street from the gated entry of peaceful, park-like Glenwood Cemetery. A corner unit (in the building, not the graveyard) listed last week but quickly dropped its asking price by $20K to $370,000. Inside (above), lots of tubing ties together 4 levels of wide, somewhat open, sometimes high gallery space . . .

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Show Us the Door
02/14/14 1:45pm

1814 Washington Ave., Houston

Sign, 1814 Washington Ave., HoustonHere’s a sign of some stirrings in the Dittman Building at 1814 Washington Ave, just east of Silver St. It’s a TABC notice indicating an application has been made for a company named B & R Butchers to serve alcohol at this location. Who’s behind this future restaurant, and will it wield such a formidable, meat-carving name over its menu, whenever it gets around to opening? Here’s one clue: The company’s registered agent appears to be Houston Smith & Wollensky general manager Benjamin Berg.

Photos: Swamplot inbox

Noticing a TABC Notice
01/13/14 1:30pm

IT’S DEVELOPMENT CAMPAIGN SEASON ON WASHINGTON AVE Fire Station No. 6, 1702 Washington Ave., HoustonBrand strategy outfit Axiom is applying its “creative communication” skills to a campaign to gain recognition for the company’s rehab of the former Fire Station No. 6: A banner now hangs outside the firm’s compound at 1702 Washington Ave (at right), asking passersby for help procuring wider recognition for the company’s multi-year office conversion project. The Fire Station renovation, along with northeast Houston’s James Berry Elementary School, the Heights’s Don Sanders pet adoption center, Dynamo Stadium, and BG Group’s wrench-shaped downtown skyscraper have been nominated in separate for-profit and nonprofit categories in this year’s local Urban Land Institute awards program, but only a group of 3 judges will pick those winners. Separately, though, they’re all competing against each other for top spot in the new-last-year “people’s choice” category, which you can sway with votes on this website — before January 21st. [ULI] Photo: John Luu/Axiom

10/24/13 11:00am

This building at the corner of Washington Ave and Wagner between Studemont and Heights Blvd. will soon be the home to a restaurant-bar-market combo called Lucky’s Urban Eats. At least that’s what Swamplot reader Debnil Chowdhury has deduced, from careful study of the TABC notice now hanging in the window — and the new venture’s website. Heights-area homebuilder Robert Sanders Homes put a new brick facade on the older 2-story structure (which it owns) back in 2005; more recently, the company tacked on the stucco-clad addition to the east side of the building, which is adjacent to Houston Fire Station No. 6. Here’s a site plan:

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10/17/13 3:30pm

Here’s a pic of the new storefront of Houston’s 3rd Three Brothers Bakery. You can see it for yourself at 4602 Washington, between Shepherd and Patterson. (It’ll share that retail center with Bedrock City Comics.) Apparently, behind those mirrored windows there’s quite a buildout of the former District Lounge going on: This new location will be open a bit later than the others and will include a coffee bar and patio where you can chill outside with your dawgs. Or dogs. Both, it seems, will be welcome. There’s been no opening date announced, but a PR rep says that the place should be ready to go early next year.

Photo: Allyn West

10/01/13 11:00am

Maybe this mystery has been solved: That old building at 908 Henderson just a block south of Liberty Station on Washington Ave is being converted into a restaurant called Big Eyed Fish. The owners just started posting some pics of the renovations to a Facebook page, and a new website promises that the place — “think southern upscale cuisine,” the website explains — is opening soon.

Photo: via Facebook

09/27/13 11:00am

The owner of Hughes Hangar is building another bar about 50 ft. away on Washington Ave. Culturemap reports that the De Gaulle, rendered here with old-timey airplane, will share the property at 2811 Washington that backs up against the Washington and Glenwood Cemeteries. Owner Bien Tran explains to Culturemap that the concept’s name, design, and accoutrements, all right across Rue Washington from that recently opened Sonic, “will create an old world Parisian atmosphere complete with a miniature Eiffel Tower.” Opening night will be Halloween, Tran hopes, following an Edgar Allan Poe theme party.

Wanna see a rendering of the interior?

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09/17/13 5:00pm

A reader has spotted some signs hanging on the fence outside 4003 Washington near Leverkuhn, where the Guadalajara Bakery used to be: The slick one in the photo above for La Roux, and another just a few feet away indicating that La Roux has applied to sell alcohol. County records show that the 1930 4,368-sq.-ft. building at 4003 Washington and 2 nearby vacant lots — the 5,100-sq.-ft. one at 4011 Washington, and the 28,045-sq.-ft. one at 4015 Washington — are all owned by Kaplan Kalan Properties.

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08/28/13 10:00am

So much for that walkable plaza with bike stations and jugglers and food trucks: It appears that an office building is going to go up instead on this underused triangular slice o’ land along Washington Ave. The variance is to reduce the setback from 25 ft. to 5 ft. in order to make room for parking and a 3,517-sq.-ft. office building. The 0.26-acre triangle is bound by Henderson, White, Union, and Washington. A site plan included in the variance request shows that the office would go up on the Henderson side, across the street from Liberty Station.

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08/21/13 11:10am

‘SPORTS BAR WITH CLASS’ REPLACING SPORTS BAR ON WASHINGTON AVE The prophecy foretold by that plagiarized message put up in July on Sawyer Park’s marquee has come to pass: A new “sports bar with class,” Social Junkie, will be opening here on Washington Ave on Sept. 13, reports Culturemap. Social Junkie’s owned by Saleem Fernandez, who also owns Roosevelt Bar and 5th Amendment in Midtown. Fernandez tells Culturemap that this bar, like his others, will have a pretty strict dress code — and lotsa sports: “‘Tuesdays we will have a live video broadcast with a Texans player . . . . We will also have a live radio broadcast here — an a.m. sports radio station.'” [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West

08/14/13 10:15am

A reader sends these new photos of the taped-up TABC sign in the window of the old laundromat at 1009 Moy St., shown above, where it appears a Pink’s Pizza will be opening soon. The photo at the top of the page shows the strip center endcap as seen from the corner of Moy and Center St., looking toward Washington Ave. a block to the south; T.C. Jester is a few blocks to the west. This new Pink’s will be the restaurant’s 4th inside the Loop; a 5th is on N. Shepherd in Garden Oaks. No opening date has been revealed. Another Pink’s is reported to be opening soon in that new retail center on Calhoun Rd. at the University of Houston.

Photos: Lisa L. Riley

07/31/13 11:00am

A reader sends this photo from the Washington Corridor: Is Sawyer Park coming back from the dead this September? The 4-year run of the 2-story sports bar with a checkered past at 2412 Washington came to an end in February. But the marquee — plagiarized from that ubiquitous Dos Equis ad campaign though it might be — suggests that something might be happening sometime soon. HCAD data show that the property hasn’t changed hands. Still, there aren’t any clues or further omens on the bar’s Facebook page or Twitter feed, and calls to Rockwood, what appears to be a design-build firm whose sign hangs from the bar’s terrace, haven’t been returned.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

06/13/13 1:00pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: SIGNS THE NON-PLAN FOR WASHINGTON AVE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A FLOP “To be clear, I don’t think it will turn into a dump. I just think the area has plateaued and will hold steady. Proximity to Memorial Park isn’t that great unless you live right by the park and walk. Otherwise, it still requires getting in a car and parking. As the thrown-up townhomes age and the scene has moved elsewhere, people are going to question whether living in a hood with narrow streets, rare parking, older townhomes, a train track through the middle, and awkward access into Downtown is really worth $400k+. Those with that kind of money to spend on a townhome are going to want to be near the action.” [Brian, commenting on How About Washington Ave Jitney Rapid Transit?]

06/12/13 1:59pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: THE NEXT STAGE FOR WASHINGTON AVE “It’s amusing to hear all of the talk about Wash. Ave. becoming the next ‘Richmond Strip.’ Ever since Washington became popular, people have made this quip. But it is simply not true. For one, it’s a different time and completely different location. It is a major thoroughfare in the inner loop, and close to many popular and affluent residential areas. If it ceases to be a clubby/trendy destination, then all the better, since that is in all likelihood not the best use for the area. The surrounding areas have experienced large growth and will continue to densify. Washington’s future will not be determined by the clubby bar scene, nor should it. It is a prime location for mixed use — restaurants, more casual bars, and residential. Houston is BIG, growing at a fast pace, and increasingly becoming populated by a younger generation who don’t want to live in the ’burbs. Areas like Washington will simply not revert back to their old ways and become ‘the next Richmond strip.’ The market will not let that happen.” [thedudeabides, commenting on How About Washington Ave Jitney Rapid Transit?]

06/11/13 4:45pm

HOW ABOUT WASHINGTON AVE JITNEY RAPID TRANSIT? It’s not as well-designed or well-funded as the Post Oak Bus Rapid Transit that Uptown’s got in the works, but Houston Wave owner Lauren Barrash thinks her jitney service could work for the Washington Corridor in a similar way: Having located about 900 available parking spots in city lots nearby, Barrash is proposing a kind of park-and-ride deal for Washington Ave visitors and employees to get to and from their destinations — and all for a small, even discounted fee. For one thing, Barrash tells Culturemap, it might be safer than walking late at night. But it also might stir things up again after what appears to be a lull in the action ever since those revenue-generating Parking Benefit District meters went into effect in early March. Says Barrash, “There were no cars on Washington at all that first week.” [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Houston Wave via Facebook