COMMENT OF THE DAY: KICKING BACK ON WASHINGTON AVE. “I live in the Core (since October 2008), and I’m certain that there are no plans to extend this complex across the street. The Core is a great place to live, but like every other large inner city complex, they’ve been slow to fill vacancies here. With that said, it would be foolish for them to even consider expanding. The last I heard, there were plans to put a small two story shopping strip there similar to the one on the other side of the Core. Still no solid plans though from anyone. By the way, if anyone wants to live here in the Core, put me as a reference and you and i both will get cash back.” [Hector Garcia, commenting on Washington Ave.: Extending The Core?]
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Tag: Washington Ave.
This 1923 former rice warehouse at the far eastern end of Washington Ave., used more recently as an annex for the Downtown post office on the other side of I-45, will become the city’s new permit office, reports Monica Perin in the Houston Business Journal. The building will replace the current 2-story office at 3300 Main St. in Midtown — which Public Works officials consider flood-prone — and consolidate permit offices from 3 other sites.
A LEED-certified renovation of the 4-story concrete-and-brick building, which sits on a 2 1/2-acre site Downtown — and which sat on the market for several years — is expected to be complete by the fall of 2010.
The property purchase is expected to close in July, along with council approval of a contract with Trammell Crow Co. as the developer, and Studio Red Architects as the design firm. . . .
“A building of this age and being a warehouse is relatively easy to recycle,†[Studio Red’s Bill Neuhaus] notes. “It lends itself to an open plan and lots of daylight. We can do an economical job here, and it will be an extremely pleasant working environment.â€
Permitting offices eventually will share space with the city’s new Green Resource Center, which is opening this week at 3300 Main St.
“The re-use of existing buildings is one of the greenest and most sustainable things we can do,†Neuhaus says.
He says the building’s prime location is part of the civic campus, next to the police department, the post office and rail station.
- City permits going green in rice warehouse [Houston Business Journal]
- 1002 Washington [LoopNet]
Photo of 1002 Washington Ave.: LoopNet
WELCOME TO BIZARRO HEIGHTS. WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING? Waving a highly abbreviated feature-comparison table, blogger tshu declares the new Washington Ave. is really “Bizarro Heights.” When will the custom neighborhood street signs go up? “For better or worse, Washington Avenue now provides all the elements that the Heights traditionally could not: trendy bars, restaurants, and large apartment complexes. . . . The explosive growth along Washington can be partly attributed to the support from the neighboring Heights area.” [Feed the Heights]
WASHINGTON AVE SPEC’S: TOO CLOSE FOR SOUTHERN COMFORT The Harris County Attorney’s office filed suit last week, demanding the Spec’s Beer and Wine store at 6100 Washington Ave. — near the Westcott roundabout — be shut down. The new store is within 1000 ft. of a school. How’d it get there? “In December 2007 [Spec’s owner John Rydman] sent a letter explaining his intent to the school — Memorial Elementary — and put in an application with the city. To his surprise, the city said yes. He said he assumed that since the proposed store was a couple of blocks away, across a major intersection and not even visible from school property, the city had granted him an exception to the rule. He said he double-checked to make sure there were no problems and was assured that neither the city nor the school district opposed the prospective store. About $400,000 later, and on the hook for a lease totaling $2.4 million more, Rydman now finds himself at odds with the state, which wants to yank his license. The law is the law, says the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, and since a formal variance was not given by the city, Spec’s is violating it.” [Houston Chronicle]
Yelp user Minh L. does his part to clear up all those Washington Ave. rumors. How many new bars are planned there? Really?
1. “The Lot” next to Pearl Bar will be open at 2 pm this Thursday.
2; The Daily Grind that closed down, the owners of Cork Screw has taken over the place, and is now currently being remodeled.
3. Owners of Whiskey Creek is opening a bar right next to “Busty La Rue” which is also right next to Pub Fiction new place on Washington. 5102 Washington Houston TX 77007
4. That Gawd awful yellow/stone place your talking about is called “Zen Ultra Lounge”
5. Owner of Pandora is opening another one down the street. Its that purple buidling. DBA is called “Blue Book” don’t think they have a name yet.
6. That really big one is called “Reign Lounge” One of the owners name is Luis. Very nice guy.
7. The old Pig stand is going to be called “Sawyer Sports Bar”
8. “Rare Bar” is opening soon on Durham & Washington
All in all there’s about 16 bars/club so far wanting to open on Washington, but we’ll see how many of them really open. These are all the ones I have time to confrm.
And where exactly does Minh L. get his info?
Snapped this morning: that new butterfly roof on the new second story of what used to be the Pig Stand, at the corner of Washington Ave. and Sawyer. Going in: The Sawyer Sports Restaurant and Bar, from the owners of The Drake nightclub.
Another view sent in by the same reader, from yesterday:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: STREET FIGHTERS “Washington Ave is short on Mexican food but it may be long on wrestlers.” [EMME, commenting on Washington Ave. Latest: Wrestler-Themed Tacos To Calm the Nightly Grind]
Here’s a concept perfect for the former home of the Daily Grind coffee shop at 4115 Washington Ave.: A new bar!
But the Washington Ave. Drinkery will be very different from all those nightclubs Sixth Ward residents love to stand outside and videotape, owners Andrew and Doyle Adams explain to Allison Wollam of the Houston Business Journal:
“It will be a place where people will want to come to have a good time instead of wanting to be seen having a good time,†Andrew Adams says.
Unlike other high-end bars in the area, Adams says The Washington Ave. Drinkery is designed as an unpretentious, laid-back bar.
Sure, but what will all those down-to-earth customers do in the wee hours after the new bar closes?
WASHINGTON AVE. INSANITY! Here’s a question: “Do y’all know what’s going up on Washington in the block between Candelari’s and El Tiempo? Looks massive, possibly shaped like a music venue. No info on HAIF. Driving…me…mad.” Readers? [Swamplot Inbox]
Neighbors in the Sixth Ward have noticed some activity at the shuttered Pig Stand on Washington at Sawyer:
It appears that the former owners of the Pigstand property have retained ownership, but that they have leased the property out to the Sawyer Sportsbar, Inc.
Sawyer Sportsbar, Inc., is a new corporation, formed in April, by none other than Darren Van Delden, owner of The Drake.
I am not sure if Darren or the Dallas property owners are doing the build-out, but it is in its very early stages. (The Pigstand only had an outdoor bathroom, so I expect some relatively expansive upgrades, at least to the interior).
- Sawyer Sports Bar [Old6WardHouston]
- The Drake Bar
- Washington News and Rumors: Beaver’s Open, Pig Coming? [Swamplot]
Photo of Washington Ave. Pig Stand (No. 7): Flickr user Fotollena
A Sixth Ward reader writes in with this report from the sneak preview of Beaver’s, Monica Pope’s new barbecue joint at 2310 Decatur near Sawyer, just south of Washington Ave.:
Tasty food there, nice interior. There is also a rumor (overheard at Beavers from someone that should know) that a man bought the Pig Stand on Washington, and another Pig Stand (my guess the Beaumont one) and plan to reopen them.
The shuttered Pig Stand stands just north of Beaver’s, at the corner of Washington and Sawyer. Bring on the roasted animals!
After the jump, menu highlights from the now-open Beaver’s (hint: there’s more than meat on the grill), plus a considered summation of the rehabbed ice house from a Beaver’s barbecue stalker.
